J LIBRARY W CONGRESS.! 



'D'lftan. 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 









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LAST WORDS 



OF 



AN ADVOCATE 



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PURE EVANGELICAL RELIGION, 

BY 
BENJAMIN PARSONS, 

AGED 8T YEARS. 



VT 



NEW-YORK : 

PRINTED BY DANIEL FANSHAW. 

85 Ann-street, corner of Nassau, 

1856. 



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Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 

BENJAMIN PARSONS, the Author, 

in the Clerk's oflace of the District Court of the Southern District 

of New- York. 



CONTENTS, 

WITH REFERENCE TO PAGES* 



1. Discourse. The Omnipresence and Omni- 

science of God, Page 5 

2. Faith and Trust in God and in Christ, — John, 

xiv. 1, 16 

3. Reason in Harmony with the Word of God, 37 

4. Works of Salvation,— Phil. i. 12, 13, . . 50 

5. Pharisaism and Hypocrisy, — Matt, xxiii. 13, . 65 

6. Lecture in Support of True Orthodoxy, . . 83 

7. Job, and the Book of Job, — Job, xxix. 11, . 117 

8. Lecture on Sacred and Social Music, . . 134 

9. Bigotry and Exclusiveness, — Mark, ix. 38-40, 153 

10. Brief way to establish the Unity of God, etc. 365 

11. Lecture on the Tri-unity of God, . . . 176 

12. Thoughts on Evangelicalism, .... 182 

1 3. Lecture on Human Nature and Total Depravity, 184 

14. Discourse. The Goodness of God, — Psalm 

xxxiv. 8, 193 

15. Pure Eeligion and Undefiled, . . . 210 

16. The supposed Two Natures in Christ, . . 227 

17. Godliness with Contentment 232 

18. Especial and useful Duties of the Rich, . . 247 

19. Christ's New Commandment of Love, . . 251 



A SHORT PREFACE. 



The author does not expect that this book will be very 
interesting, or at all instructive, to the learned doctors 
of divinity, and the well-informed and devout Chris- 
tian ministers and teachers of the Gospel; but if it 
shall meet the approbation of the numerous intelligent, 
common people (so called) — if it shall in any degree 
reach, improve, and meliorate the common mind, he will 
be well satisfied. The author expects and desires no pro- 
fit or benefit, personally, from the publication; all he 
hopes or prays for, is, that it may be of some benefit and 
aid to the cause and spread of true, evangelical Christian- 
ity when he is no more /tere, which time he knows must 
soon arrive; and O that he maybe prepared and resigned 
to go (when called for,) trusting entirely in the mercy of 
God for his forgiveness, acceptance, and approbation. 

THE AUTHOB. 



THE OMNISCIENCE OF GOD. 



" The eyes of the L^d are in every place, beholding the 
evil and the good." — Prov. xv. 3. 

Although this text relates particularly to the 
omnipresence and omniscience of God, (which 
it is my design now mostly to consider,) yet 
as all his great and glorious attributes are 
intimately connected and divinely and harmo- 
niously united, it may be useful briefly to no- 
tice, first, some other of his most important 
attributes. I will, therefore, with awe and 
wonder, briefly consider the almighty power 
and infinite Avisdom of God. These may be 
considered as the foundation of all his other 
attributes. And they are necessary to each 
other, and to the whole galaxy of his glorious 
attributes — one would be useless without the 
other. Almighty power to execute, needs in- 
finite wisdom to plan and arrange; and infinite 
wisdom to plan, would be defective without 
almighty power to direct. And God's justice, 
goodness and mercy would be deficient with- 
1 



6 THE OMNISCIENCE OF GOD. 

out his almighty power and infinite wisdom to 
display them. 

The almighty power and infinite wisdom of 
God are clearly and wonderfully seen and dis- 
played in all his works and providence — in 
the creation of suns, moons, stars, worlds — 
with innumerable material accompaniments, 
and unnumbered creatures, both rational and 
irrational. All 

" These are thy glorious works ! Parent of good ! 
Almigh y! Thine this universal francie — 
Thus wondrous fair ! Thyself how wondrous then ! 
Unspeakable !" 

But with more devotion and thankfulness, 
we may contemplate the unbounded, ineffable 
goodness, love and compassion of God toward 
us, his intelligent but sinful creatures. These 
should speak most powerfully to the heart, 
and animate every pious soul : they are dis- 
played in various ways, at all times — in the 
creation of men in God's own image, after 
his moral likeness ; making them intelligent 
beings, capable of worshiping, loving and serv- 
ing him, and of loving and doing good to on© 
another ; and in his creating this world, and 
all the useful creatures and things therein, for 
the use of men — making it capable of pro- 



THE OMNISCIENCE OF GOD. T 

ducing everything necessary for our temporal 
support, comfort and happiness — in giving us 
richly all temporal good things to here enjoy. 

But the goodness, love and compassion of 
God are infinitely more displayed by his send- 
ing his beloved, his only begotten Son, from the 
throne of his glory, from the bosom of his love, 
into this sinful world — here to reveal the benevo- 
lent, perfect character of his Father — here to 
teach, instruct and persuade sinners to repent 
and reform their lives ; to cease to do evil and 
learn to do well ; to set a perfect example for us 
to follow — living a sinless, perfectly holy life — 
going about continually doing good — healing 
the sixCk, giving sight to the blind, hearing to 
the deaf, feeding the hungry, raising the dead 
to life, and performing many great and mira- 
culous works of love and mercy. 

He had so much pure, disinterested love to 
men, that though he had '' all power in heaven 
and earth" given him, and could at any mo- 
ment have overcome and destroyed all his 
enemies and opposers, yet he suffered himself 
to be abused, despised, spit upon, crowned with 
thorns, nailed to the cross, and at last to be 
crucified by wicked men and to die on the 
cross, that sinners, through his love, sufferings 



O THE OMNISCIENCE OF GOD. 

and death, might obtain everlasting life in 
heaven ! O, love divine ! compared with which 
all human love is cold and dead ! — '' Bless 
the Lord, our souls, and forget not all his 
benefits !" 

But though the almighty power, infinite wis- 
dom, and all the attributes of God, are so won- 
derful and precious that we should never cease 
to meditate upon them with gratitude and ado- 
ration, yet we will not neglect to come to a 
serious, devout, and, I hope, useful considera- 
tion of his mysterious and, to men, incompre- 
hensible powers of omnipresence and omni- 
science, which are figuratively referred to in 
our text — *' The eyes of the Lord are in every 
place, beholding the evil and the good." 

But I may be told, that the Almighty God 
is a purely, entirely spiritual being — that he 
has neither eyes, nor ears, nor hands, nor any 
material parts or properties ; but we know, for 
all nature, reason, and the Word of God clear- 
ly teach us, that the all-wise Creator and Gov- 
ernor of the universe must have power (in 
some way to us unknown) to see and hear, 
and handle and know all that is done, and all 
that exists in the whole universe ; and this 
power and capacity may be figuratively con' 



THE OMNISCIENCE OF GOD. V 

sidered as his eyes, his ears, his hands, and his 
other instruments of operation, though we are 
not able to comprehend the mode or nature of 
his being, or the way and means of his opera- 
tions ; for " who, by searching, can find out 
God ? — who can find out the Almighty to per- 
fection V' But what is meant to be taught in 
our text is a plain doctrine, that God is pre- 
sent at all times, at the same time, in every 
place in the universe, understanding and know- 
ing all that is done, or ever was or will be 
done, and all that exists, or ever did or will ex- 
ist, in the whole universe. *' He that formed 
the eye, shall not he see ? He that made the 
ear, shall not he hear ? He that gave to men 
all their understanding, shall not he know 
everything ?'' 

And the omnipresence and omniscience of 
God, if fully and realizingly considered, must 
have a powerful influence upon our hearts and 
lives ; for they teach most important truths of 
God — they are united in their powers and re- 
sults — they are necessary to each other, and 
to the perfection of God's other attributes : one 
could not exist without the other ; and with- 
out them, all the other attributes of God would 
be defective. If he w^as limited and station- 
1* 



10 THE OMNISCIENCE OF ^30D. 

ary only, in one of our sister revolving plan- 
ets, he could not display his almighty power, 
wisdom and goodness to the inhabitants of our 
world. We should then be as without God 
and without hope in the world ; nay, we should 
not be at all — we should immediately cease 
to exist; for there can be no life or existence 
without the presence of that God who is the 
source and fountain of all life and existence, 
and the only being in the universe who is self- 
existent, and entirely independent and supreme. 
Reason, therefore, as well as the word of 
God, clearly, fully proclaims the omnipresence 
and omniscience of the Creator and Preserver 
of all things in the universe, and that they are 
necessary to the whole perfection of God; and 
they are necessary to each other, as one teaches 
and implies the existence of the other. 

If God is omnipresent, he must be omniscient. 
We finite creatures, with limited powers, know 
all that we are present with; and surely God, 
with unlimited powers, must know all that he 
is present with, which is everything in the uni- 
verse. And if God is omniscient, he must be 
everywhere present; for he could not know 
what he could not behold. He could not un- 
derstand what he could not be with and see, and 
in some way perceive. 



THE OMNISCIENCE OF GOD. 11 

Both reason and the word of God clearly 
teach, that he who created, preserves and gov- 
erns all creation, must be an omnipresent, onmi- 
scient, Almighty God; for to be able to create, 
preserve, and direct all, he must be present 
with all, know all, and be Almighty. 

When we contemplate upon all the myste- 
rious, glorious, incomprehensible attributes of 
God, we are lost in wonder and amazement. 
There is nothing in the universe to which we 
can liken them. 

But it is not enough that we contemplate 
the omnipresence and omniscience of God, 
merely philosophically or truthfully. It is of 
infinite importance that we should take a se- 
rious, religious, soul-impressing view of these 
wonderful, mysterious attributes of God. And 
a realizing sense of God's constant presence 
with us, seeing and knowing all that we do, or 
contemplate doing, or neglect to do, must fill 
our souls with profound awe, reverential fear, 
and holy dread, lest we should sin against him 
and neglect his worship; and it would tend to 
keep us from sinning — to purify our hearts, re- 
fine and exalt our souls, and make our lives 
holy and God-like; for if we realize that God is 
always with us, and we consider ourselves al- 



12 THE OMNISCIENCE OF GOD. 

^vays with him, under his special care and pro- 
tection, we must obey his commands, do his 
whole will, and become in some measure like 
him. 

A full realizing belief that the almighty, 
transcendently glorious Jehovah, is actually 
|>resent with us at all times, in all places, will 
cruise no unreasonable fear, terror, or dread, if 
our hearts are right with him, and if we con- 
sider that he is our kind and gracious Father 
in heaven, and our best almighty Eriend, ever 
able, read}', and willing to do for us more and 
better then we are able to ask or think, if we 
only love him, and keep his commandments; 
but wc should rejoice with joy unspeakable, 
ihiit we have suck a Father and S2ich a Friend al- 
ways with us; and we should feel and say with 
deli;-rht, '^The Lord is our present Shepherd, 
we shall not want." The Lord is our keeper, 
wii Y should we fear ? why should we apprehend 
«Ian,2:er or any evil, when God our Friend and 
Supporter is nigh and careth for us ? 

If we had a dear earthly friend who was 
abundantly able and willing to supply all our 
temporal wants, should we not rejoice and be 
exceeding glad to have him constantly with us ? 
How infinitely more should we rejoice and be 



THE OMNISCIENCE OF GOD. 13 

thankful, that we are assured that we have an 
Almighty, all-able, all-willing Friend always 
and ever to be with us, who will provide for us 
all that we need for time and eternity, if we 
will love him, and be his obedient children, and 
true and faithful disciples of his Son, our bless- 
ed Saviour ? 

It is the wicked and disobedient only, who 
fear and tremble at the thought and truths of 
the omnipresence and omniscience of God. 
They are more willing to believe in the creed 
of the heretic Cerinthus, who taught that the 
supreme God dwelt in a far remote heaven 
called Pleroma — that he was surrounded by a 
select number of Eons, or inferior spirits — that 
he took no care or concern about this world, or 
the creatures and things in it — that he was not 
even the creator of them, but that one Demiur- 
gus, an Eon, was the creator. So it is with the 
wicked and impenitent — they have no know- 
ledge of the true character of God, of his per- 
fect and holy attributes — these are not in all 
their thoughts; they are more ready to believe 
that he is afar off in some remote heaven, and 
that he cannot see them or know what they do, 
or intend to do, or neglect to do. But I do be- 
lieve that if they could obtain a true and hearty 



14 THE OMNISCIENCE OF GOD. 

knowledge of the true character of God, of all 
his benevolent, glorious attributes, and espe- 
cially if they had a realizing sense of his omni- 
presence and omniscience, they would be, they 
must be, immediately convicted of their sins 
and converted to holiness. They could not sin 
against, an acknowledged ever-present, all- 
knowing, heart-searching God. If they were 
about to commit a sin, they would hesitate, 
consider, and say to themselves, ^'Thou, God, 
seest us ! How can we sin against thy good- 
ness and love in thy immediate presence, when 
thy omniscient eyes are blazing full upon us !" 
No ; they would say. We will no more sin against 
thee; we will no more transgress thy holy 
laws: we will humbly implore thy forgiveness; 
we will worship thee supremely, and love thee 
with all our hearts, and our neighbors as our- 
selves, as thou hast commanded. 

And to conclude the whole matter, I do fully 
believe that if all the intelligent creatures of 
God upon earth had a true, perfect knowledge 
of the character of God, of his great amazing 
love to men, and above all, if they had a real- 
izing sense of his omnipresence and of his 
omniscience, they would not, they could not, be 
tempted to sin against him; indeed, there would 



THE OMNISCIENCE OF GOD. 15 

be no sin in the world. The world would be- 
come a heaven upon earth; all mankind would 
be pure, holy, and faithful in duty to God and 
men; they would be like the angels of God in 
heaven, whose highest joys, delights, and hap- 
piness, undoubtedly are derived from a certain 
knowledge of the goodness of God, and a real- 
izing sense that he is and always will be with 
them; for 

** They behold him, and with songs 

And choral symphonies, day without night, 

Circle his throne rejoicing !" 

0, such may our blest employment be for ever 
and ever ! 



16 FAITH AND TRUST. 



FAITH AND TRUST IN GOD AND CHRIST. 



"Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, 
believe also in me." — John, xiv. 1. 

Belief, or faith, in a religious sense, compre- 
hends trust and confidence. As if Christ had 
said to his disciples, Believe, and put your 
whole trust and confidence in God and in me, 
and then your hearts will not be troubled. 

The last part of this text is not rightly ren- 
dered. It should have been translated, wholly 
imperatively. The Greek verb for believe is 
the same in both places, and in the impera- 
tive mood, ^^ TTiTTsvere u^ rov Gsd:;, koc) eiq i.u,e 
mcrreucTSj" and should have been translated, 
not "2/c believe,'' but "believe ^e," (impera- 
tively,) *' believe in God, and believe in me." 
It was intended, not as a declaration of the fact 
that the disciples and Jews did then rightly 
believe in God and in Christ, but as a com- 
mand that they should so believe. And it im- 
plied that their faith was not correct and per- 
fect. There was, therefore, good reason why 



IN GOD AND CHRIST. It 

Christ thus gave the command. For though 
the Jews (and the disciples retained much of 
the Jewish faith) did, in some sense, believe in 
the one only true God, yet their faith was not 
wholly correct and perfect. They believed that 
their God was a great, mighty, majestic, glo- 
rious, but somewhat vindictive, arbitrary sove- 
reign; that he was a God of war rather than 
of peace, a God of wrath and vengeance more 
than of love and compassion; but they did not 
seem to consider him as the infinite, benevo- 
lent, forgiving Father of all mankind; but ra- 
ther as the God of their nation only; as the God 
of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, and of their 
descendants only. They did not appear to 
know him as the God and Father of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, or as the compassionate 'Author of 
the great, benevolent, glorious plan of redemp- 
tion and salvation through Christ. They were 
in total ignorance or error respecting the ob- 
ject of the mission of the Messiah, the Christ, 
into the world. And the disciples of Christ, 
(for they were all Jews) at that time, were 
very imperfect and erroneous in their faith in 
God and in Christ. They believed, indeed, that 
Jesus was the Christ, and that God had sent 
him as the promised Messiah; but they had 

a 



18 FAITH AND TRUST 

imperfect, wrong views of his true character 
and the object of his mission. They had a Jew- 
ish traditional notion that God had sent him, 
and that he had consented to come, to be a 
temporal saviour and deliverer of their nation 
only from political oppression — to free them, not 
from their sins, hut from the Roman yoke — to set 
up his kingdom on earth — to restore the king- 
dom to Israel, and not to be a spiritual deliverer 
and saviour — to save all men from their sins, to 
bring wanderers back to God and holiness, to 
establish his kingdom in the hearts of men, 
and to persuade all men to cease to do evil and 
learn to do well. 

Well, therefore, did Christ deem it necessary 
to reveal to his disciples and the world, the 
true and perfect character of God and of him- 
self; and to command them, that after the per- 
formance of their whole duty, they should put 
their supreme trust and confidence in God, and 
in him as the only source of consolation, joy 
and hope, and as the only certain remedy for 
the cure or alleviation of all the evils, trials, 
troubles, pains and disappointments in this 
life; and for all fears, anxieties, doubts, or lack 
of knowledge respecting a future life; trusting 
altogether in the goodness, love and mercy of 



IN GOD AND CHRIST. 19 

God and his Son. And all men should cheer- 
fully, heartily obey this command of Christ, not 
only because it is his express injunction, but 
because it is a most reasonable, all-important, 
and should be a most delightful duty. For all 
men are dependent upon God for life, its con- 
tinuance, and all the enjoyments and blessings 
thereof, and for all rational hopes of future 
bliss ; therefore, all should hope and trust in 
God, that he will continue his blessings to 
them, and increase their joys and hopes, if 
they love him and keep his commandments. 
True and acceptable trust in God must be ac- 
companied with love and obedience to his will. 
It would be but mockery to say we trust in 
God, while we rebel against his government 
and laws. Such a heartless trust will not be 
acceptable to God, nor will it free the heart 
from trouble. But true and heartfelt faith in 
God and Christ will remove all grief and trouble 
of heart, give joy, and enliven hope. 

At the time when Christ made this address 
to his disciples, he had been informing them 
that he was about to leave them, and they were 
in great grief and sorrow — their hearts were 
troubled. Christ, therefore, endeavored to give 
them consolation and joy, instead of grief and 



20 FAITH AND TRUST 

sorrow. It is not to be presumed that the 
apostle John has recorded all that Christ said 
to his disciples on this interesting, solemn oc- 
casion: but we may well imagine that he ad- 
dressed them largely, and most affectingly, 
somewhat, we will suppose, after this manner : 
" My beloved disciples, you seem to be grieved, 
sorrowful; your hearts are troubled because I 
told you I was about to go away, to go to my 
Father and your Father, to my God and your 
God. But this would not have grieved you, if 
you rightly understood the gracious object of 
my Father in sending me into the world, and 
the great and benevolent office I have to sus- 
tain — what I have to do and to suffer for your 
sake, and for the redemption of the whole world ; 
but you would rather rejoice and be exceeding 
glad, especially when I inform you that in my 
Father's house are many mansions, and that I 
go to prepare a place for you, and will come 
again and receive you to myself, that where I 
am, there you may be also. And although, for 
a time, I shall not be visibly with you, yet in 
spirit, love, influence and consolation, lo! I am 
with you always, even to the end of the world. 
Now I will tell you how you may remove all 
sorrow and trouble from your hearts, and fill 
your whole souls with unspeakable joy and 



IN GOD AND CHRIST. 21 

delight. Truly, heartily believe and trust in 
God and in me. Truly believe in all the per- 
fect, benevolent, glorious attributes of God, 
and believe in me as his beloved Son, the only 
mediator between God and men; an all-sufficient 
Saviour of sinners, ready and willing to save 
all that come unto God by repentance, and with 
faith in me as their Redeemer : and believe 
that my Father and your Father is your best, 
almighty Friend, w^ho careth for you, and whose 
love toward you is ineffably great; and believe 
that my love to you is ardent, and even stronger 
than death; for I am willing to suffer most 
excruciatingly, and even to lay down my life 
for your sake, that you may inherit eternal life 
and joy. 

'' If you thus believe, trust, and confide in God 
and in me, it will be impossible that your hearts 
can be troubled, or that you can have any last- 
ing sorrow or grief whatever; for my Father 
and your Father is able and willing to bestow 
upon you infinitely more and better than you 
can ask or conceive." 

We must, therefore, conclude that true, cor- 
dial trust and confidence in God and in his Son, 
is the only safe, sure, sovereign balm for all 
pain, grief and trouble of heart. 
2* 



22 FAITH AND TRUST 

We will, therefore, briefly consider what is 
that safe, sure and cordial trust and confidence 
in God and in Christ, or what we must believe 
of and concerning God and Christ, so that our 
hearts may be free from all grief and trouble. 

First, What must we believe of and concern- 
ing God ? 

We must not only have an intellectual, ra- 
tional faith in God and all his perfect attri- 
butes, but we must cordially, sincerely, devout- 
ly believe and/eeZ that he is the only true God, 
the almighty, all-wise, merciful Creator, Gov- 
ernor, and Director of all beings and things 
in the universe ; that he ordereth all things 
well, in love and mercy, for the good of his 
creatures ; that he cannot do injustice ; that 
he is a just God ; not only of almighty power, 
but of infinite wisdom, of unbounded goodness, 
love and compassion ; that his tender mercies 
are over all his creatures ; that he is omnipre- 
sent in love ; that he is a forgiving God to 
the penitent and faithful ; that he would not 
that any should perish, but rather that all 
should return unto him with repentance and 
faith, and receive everlasting life and joy. And 
we must believe that God's love to men was 
so great, so amazing, so ineffable, that he sent 



IN GOD AND CHRIST. 23 

his only begotten, his beloved Son, from the 
throne of his glory, from the bosom of his love, 
into this sinful world, hzre, to seek and to save 
those who had wandered from God and holi- 
ness, who were lost in sin and transgression; 
to teach, instruct and persuade sinners to re- 
pent, reform, and become reconciled to their 
kind Father in heaven, to cease to do evil and 
learn to do well, to become wise unto salva- 
tion. And we must believe that God^s love 
to men was such, that he permitted this belov- 
ed Son to suffer and die on the cross to effect 
the salvation of sinners. But after three days' 
entombment he raised him to life, exalted him 
at his own right hand on the throne, where he 
ever liveth to make intercession for sinners ; 
that he hath appointed this Son to be the only 
Mediator between himself and men; an all- 
sufficient Saviour of sinners, their advocate at 
the throne of grace, and the final Judge of all 
the earth. We must also believe that God will 
render due justice and retribution to the wicked 
and impenitent, and abundantly bless and re- 
ward the righteous — all who sincerely repent, 
and seek and worship him in sincerity and 
truth — all who heartily love him, keep his com- 
mandments, do his will, and receive Christ 



24 FAITH AND TRUST 

into their hearts with faith and love. In a 
word, as the foundation of all saving faith, we 
must believe that God requires us to love him 
with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength; 
to receive Christ as our Saviour ; to love our 
neighbors as ourselves; and to have charity 
and good will towards all mankind. 

Secondly, What is the true, saving faith we 
must have in Christ, or what must we believe, 
of and concerning Christ, so that our hearts 
may not be troubled ? 

We must cordially believe that he is the 
beloved Son of God, the brightness of his 
Father^s glory, the express image of his person, 
the only Mediator between God and men, an 
all-sufiScient Saviour, the only name by which 
we must be saved ; that he willingly, and in 
obedience to his Father^s holy will, consented 
to undertake the great, merciful, all-important 
mission to the world, to leave his Father's 
throne and to come down to the world, to re- 
veal the perfect, benevolent, glorious character 
of God, his Father, and to save the world 
from sin and death ; not that he came literally 
to pay the debt of sinners, or to satisfy the 
justice of God, or to appease his wrath, or to 
transfer to sinners his own righteousness, or 



IN GOD AND CHRISl. 25 

literally to take upon himself all their sins ; 
but to save them from their sins, keep them 
from sinning, to induce them to be sinless, to 
be righteous, to be pure, holy and fit subjects 
of mercy and forgiveness, and, through the 
grace of God and the mediation of his Son^ 
worthy to be admitted to the joys and glories 
of heaven. All which he was to effect by 
teaching, instructing, and persuading sinners 
to repent and reform; to return from their 
wanderings unto God, who is merciful to for- 
give the penitent; to become reconciled to their 
kind Father in heaven, to cease to do evil, and 
become righteous. And he was to operate 
powerfully on the hearts and lives of men by 
his benevolent, wonderful, miraculous works 
of love and compassion ; by the perfect and 
holy example of his whole life; by the mani- 
festation of his constant devotion and love to 
God, his Father; by his love displayed towards 
men, as he went about continually doing them 
good, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, 
comforting the afflicted, causing the Gospel to 
be preached to the poor, raising the dead to 
life, and even forgiving sins; and, especially, 
by his example of patient submission to ill- 
treatment and abuse; to be scourged, reviled, 



26 FAITH AND TRUST 

spit upon, crowned with thorns; and at last to 
be crucified and to die upon the cross, that 
sinners might have everlasting life ! Such, 
we must believe, were the efiectual works and 
sufferings of Christ for the salvation of men ; 
and we must believe that they were acceptable 
to God, his Father ; for after three days' en- 
tombment, *'the angel of the Lord descended 
from heaven, and came and rolled back the 
stone from the door of the sepulchre, and sat 
upon it." And then — ** glory be to God in the 
highest !" — then our blessed Saviour rose, 
burst the bars of death, and triumphed glori- 
ously over the grave, and thereby finished 
his mission of love to the world, and estab- 
lished the doctrine of the final resurrection of 
all mankind ! And afterwards he personally 
appeared to his disciples and others — taught, 
instructed, and blessed them. And while he 
blessed them he was parted from them, re- 
ceived up into heaven, seated on the throne at 
the right hand of his Almighty Father, where 
he everlivethto make intercession for sinners! 
Yes, Christians, can we not all, with an eye 
and ear of faith, now see him, hear him plead- 
ing at the throne of grace for us sinners, 
saying, Father, of thine infinite love, and 



r 



IN GOD AND CHRIST. 2t 

for my sake who died on the cross for their 
salvation, have compassion on them I For my 
sake, Father, whom thou lovest, forgive 
them and receive them into thy kingdom, ever 
to dwell with me ; and with me and all the host 
of heaven, to worship, adore and praise thee 
for ever and ever ! 

Furthermore, we must believe that Christ 
requires us to obey all his commands and in- 
junctions, to treasure up his instructions in 
our hearts, to observe all his institutions and 
memorials, to cause his Gospel, so far as in 
our power, to be preached to the poor and 
throughout the world. If we have such trust 
and faith in God, and in his Son the Mediator, 
our hearts will not, cannot be troubled ; we 
can have no real lasting sorrow, grief or pain, 
whatever may be our lot, trials, or sufferings 
in life. Should we providentially be deprived 
of all our earthly possessions, our goods and 
chattels, lands and tenements, and all the 
comforts and conveniences of life, still, if we 
have true faith and trust in God and in Christ, 
we shall have no trouble of heart — we shall 
be resigned — we shall trust that all things 
will finally work together for our good, if we 
love God and keep his commandments, and w^ 



28 FAITH AND TRUST 

shall say with Job, '* The Lord gave, and the 
Lord hath taken away ; blessed be the name 
of the Lord." 

My Christian friends, should the hand of 
God fall heavily, grievously upon you — take 
from you a beloved son or daughter on whom 
you depended for comfort and support; should 
you lose all your children, the delight of your 
eyes and the joy of your hearts ; should your 
bosom companions, the greatest joys and com- 
forts of your lives, be removed far from you 
into darkness and death ; should you lose your 
parents, your brothers and sisters ; should all 
your dear connections and friends be no more 
with you upon earth, — still, if you have this 
true faith and trust in God and in Christ, you 
will cheerfully, resignedly submit to the deal- 
ings of your kind Father in heaven, trusting, 
knowing that he doeth all things well and for 
your good ; and you will say. It is the Lord 
who hath done it : let him do what seemeth 
him good ; we believe, we know that he must 
do right, and what is best for us, though we 
now see it not. And we trust and hope in 
God that we shall hereafter meet in heaven all 
our gone connections and friends, even our 
dear little children whom we loved and lost, 



IN GOD AND CHRIST. 29 

and there with them, and with an innumerable 
company of angels and glorified spirits, unite 
in rapturously celebrating the praises of Him 
that sitteth upon the throne, and of the Lamb, 
for ever and ever ! 

Again : should you be personally afflicted — 
deprived of your eyesight, your hearing, and 
your other important bodily powers and ca- 
pacities, (all which are the gifts of God,) 
should you suffer the most excruciating pains 
of body, if you have this faith and trust in 
God and in Christ, you will not sin with your 
lips nor charge God foolishly ; you will not 
murmur nor complain, but you will be humble, 
submissive, cheerful ; your hearts will not be 
troubled, or moved, or affected by any anguish 
of your bodies, for you will believe that all 
will finally work together for your good, if 
you love God and keep his commandments. 

Again: should you in this world be ill-treated, 
abused, persecuted, even to the peril of your 
lives, yet none of these things will move you 
or cause your hearts to be troubled, if you truly 
believe and trust in God and in Christ : even 
the last finishing, agonizing trial and struggle 
of life will not disquiet you or cast a gloom 
over your joys and hopes. You will think less 
3 



30 FAITH AND TRUST 

of the agonies of death than of the bliss of 
dying; for to the good, holy, and trusting in 
God and Christ, death temporal is only sweetly 
languishing into life eternal, into joys ever- 
lasting! for 

*• Jesus can make your dying bed 

Feel soft as downy pillows are; 
While on his breast you lean your head, 

And breathe your life out sweetly there. '^ 

In a word, all the evils, pains, sorrows, anxie- 
ties which this world can crowd upon you, will 
not hurt you, will not disturb the peace of your 
souls, will not lessen your love to God and men, 
will not impede your progress in holiness, 
will not cause your hearts to be troubled, if you 
have true faith and trust in God and in his 
Son. Biit you may hope and trust in God that 
all will be well with you for life and for ever, 
if you rely upon God^s gracious word and 
promises; for he hath said, ''Blessed is the 
man that maketh the Lord his trust ; blessed 
is the man that trusteth in him. 0, taste and 
see that the Lord is good. He is thy help and 
thy shield. The Lord shall save them, for 
they trusted in him. Trust in the Lord and 
do good, so shalt thou dwell in the land and 
be fed. Trust in the Lord and he shall bring 



IN GOD AND CHRIST. 31 

forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy 
judgment as the noonday. They that trust in 
the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, that cannot 
be removed, but abideth for ever,'^ The Bible 
is full of such gracious, consoling words and 
promises to the righteous — to all who truly 
love, believe and trust in God, and in his Son — 
who believe that God is gracious, merciful 
and forgiving to the penitent, and that he lov- 
eth and careth for them, and will of his great 
goodness provide for them the comforts of life 
and the joys of heaven, if they sincerely wor- 
ship him and receive into their hearts with 
faith and love, his Son, their Saviour, who 
suffered and died for their salvation, but is 
risen and gone to prepare a place for them, 
and has promised that he will come again and 
receive them to himself, that where he is, there 
they may be with him in glory. 

But lest I should be misunderstood, or be 
thought to be too enthusiastic, I will here ob- 
serve that this necessary, all-important faith 
and trust in God and in Christ, does not imply 
or teach that we should place no trust or faith 
whatever in any other being or object ; for it 
is our bounden duty to place a subordinate, 
secondary trust and confidence in all the crea- 



32 FAITH AND TRUST 

tures' works, and providence of God. He de- 
signed them all to be trusted in, in a secondary 
degree — to be acknowledged as his gifts, as 
his instruments for our good — and he pro- 
nounced all the things he had made to be very 
good. We should trust that this earth, which 
God made for the use of man, will, with his 
blessing and our proper labor, produce the 
necessaries for our animal support and com- 
fort. We should trust that all mankind will 
be mutual helps and assistants to each other, 
for so God designed they should be. We should 
trust that parents will take good and proper 
care of their children in infancy and youth, 
that they will rightly teach them and bring 
them up in the nurture and admonition of the 
Lord — that our children, if well educated, will 
be good, and a comfort, joy and delight to us ; 
that our brothers and sisters and all our con- 
nections and acquaintance will be kind and do 
HS good, and that all men will be disposed to 
obey the laws of God and the dictates of na- 
ture. We should trust and hope that all the 
civil and religious institutions, the well-meant 
associations in the world, all the rational joys 
and innocent amusement in this life, and 
everything that God has given or granted us, 



IN GOD AND CHRIST. 33 

may tend to the advancement of our comfort 
and happiness, to the progress of our virtue 
and holiness, to the good of mankind, and the 
glory of God, the giver of all good. 

But our faith and trust in created beings 
and objects should be of a subordinate, se- 
condary nature, vastly inferior in amount ; 
should be considered as the free unmerited 
bestowment of Him who is above all, in all, 
the giver of all ; who careth for us and order- 
eth all things well, and for our good and hap- 
piness; so that we are bound to put our su- 
preme faith, trust and confidence in God and 
in his Son our advocate. 

Again: this necessary supreme trust and con- 
fidence in God and in Christ does not do away, 
does not dispense with our duty to do and per- 
form ourselves whatever God has commanded 
or required of us, and what he has given us 
power and capacity to do and perform. He 
has given us great powers, capacities, and 
talents for the performance of our duty to- 
wards him, ourselves, and our fellow-men, 
which we are bound to use, improve, and in- 
crease, for our progress and advancement in 
virtue and holiness : they are not given us to 
be useless, or worse than useless; to be, as it 
3* 



34 FAITH AND TRUST 

were, ^' laid up in a napkin or hid under a 
bushel," but to be used and improved to the 
glory of God and the good of mankind. God 
has justly and reasonabl}^ commanded us to 
love him with all our hearts, and our neigh- 
bors as ourselves — to be holy, to cease to do 
evil, to work out our own salvation, and many 
other important things he has commanded us 
to do. And we are not permitted to say that 
God is unjust or unreasonable, that he has com- 
manded us to do what he has not given us 
power to do ; for '^justice and judgment are 
the habitation of his throne for ever !" It is, 
tlierefore, our indispensable duty always to 
obey all his commands, and to do his whole 
will. We were made, specially designed, for 
rational, holy action, for labor and good works, 
and not to be mere machines, to be acted upon 
solely by some mysterious, miraculous, instan- 
taneous influence, without any volition of our 
own, trusting entirely in an unwarranted faith, 
that the Holy Spirit will do all that is neces- 
sary for us, while w^e remain inactive and dead 
in trespasses and sin ; for faith, saith the Apos- 
tle, without works (holy works) is dead. Yet, 
for all that we may or can do, with Divine aid, 
we are to take no praise or credit to ourselves, 



IN GOD AND CHRIST. 35 

but to give all the praise, all the credit, all the 
glory to Him who gives us the power to w^ork 
and labor, to do w^orks acceptable in his sight. 
And when we have done all that is required 
of us, and which God has given us power to 
do, and when we have charity and good-wil 
towards all our fellow-men, theriy then we are 
to put our whole supreme faitli, trust and con* 
fidence in God and in Christ. This is the only 
sure foundation of faith and trust. This is the 
one thing needful, and of infinite importance. 
Without it we should be most miserable — we 
should be as without God and without hope in 
the world. Our days on earth would be 
joyless, gloomy, our whole lives a scene of 
trouble, anxiety, dreariness, doubt, darkness, 
despair, and all our hopes of future bliss for 
ever blasted. This faith and trust is the 
only sure anchor of the soul that is able to 
sustain us against the storms, tempests, break- 
ers, and all the evils of this world, and to hold 
us safe and calm in the haven of everlasting 
joys. And if we truly and heartily possess it, 
we may hope, through the goodness, mercy and 
forgiveness of God, his promises and the mis- 
sion of his Son, to be made safe and happy for 
time and for ever. Let me then urge you, as 



36 FAITH AND TRUST IN GOD AND CHRIST. 

the last words I may ever say to you, faithfully 
do your whole duty to God and men ; and then 
let me say to you, as Christ said to his disci- 
ples, "Let not your hearts be troubled/^ Cor- 
dially believe in God and in Christ, and your 
hearts will not be troubled — you will be truly 
happy, you may hope, for ever and ever ! 



re;^son and word op god in harmony. 3*1 

REASON AND THE WORD OF GOD 
IN HARMONY. 

" Come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord — 
produce your cause — bring forth your strong rea- 
sons, saith the King of Israel." — Isa. i. 18, and xli. 21. 

These injunctions maybe considered as given 
by God to men, for Isaiah was an inspired pro- 
phet of the Lord. Well, therefore, coming from 
such a souiice, may they claim our highest con- 
sideration. And what do they teach, what do 
they imply ? They teach, they clearly imply, 
that the Lord our God is a God of reason, of 
infinite reason, and of almighty power to dis- 
play it; for he would not have called upon 
his intelligent creatures to come and reason 
together with him, if he did not himself pos- 
sess reas(?!n and the power of reasoning. He 
never could command his creatures to do what 
he had not power to do himself. And he 
being the source and fountain of all reason and 
power, must be an infinitely wise and rational 
being. And it is also fully implied that God 



88 REASON AND WORD OF €0D , 

had given to men a portion of his divine reason, 
and a capacity to use it — and it was his design 
that it should be exercised, used and improved 
by them, for their good and his glory. 

Hence, we must conclude that reason and 
the power of reasoning are gifts, most precious 
gifts of God; and that the light or dictate of 
right reason is as truly a revelation of God 
as his holy word, though not so clear and ex- 
tensive; yet it was the first revelation of God 
to man. And it reveals much about the charac- 
ter and attributes of God, though not so clear- 
Ij and perfectly as his holy word; for clouds 
and darkness are round about it, and it needs 
a brighter and more perfect revelation to shine 
through those clouds and darkness, and to dis- 
play the full glory and perfection of God. The 
light of nature and reason alcnc is not sufficient 
to illumine all the joys of life, and to insure 
the blessed hopes of future, everlasting bliss; 
It does not reveal to us the all-important truth, 
that God sent his only begotten, his beloved 
Son from heaven into the world, to redeem and 
save the sinful inhabitants thereof; it does not 
even inform us that the Almighty Father had 
sucli a Son; it gives us no account of God^s 
great, benevolent, glorious plan of redemption 



IN HARMONY. 39 

and salvation for men through that beloved 
Son; it affords no certain, satisfactory grounds 
of hope for everlasting life and happiness in a 
future state of being, either through the grace 
of God or the merits and mediation of his Son. 
And other important things are not clearly re- 
vealed by the light of nature and reason. The 
all-wise, benevolent Father, therefore, deemed 
it necessary, and that it would be beneficial to 
men, that he should give them a more full and 
perfect revelation, which he has graciously done 
by the revelation, the true and glorious revela- 
tion of his holy word, in which there can be no 
error or imperfection, for it was conceived in 
perfection and delivered by divine inspiration. 
And it reveals all that is necessary for men to 
know. It is ample, full, perfect; it reveals the 
perfect character of God; all his benevolent, 
glorious attributes, the loveliness and divinity 
of his Son, the whole duty of men towards their 
God, their Saviour, and their fellow-creatures; 
it is amply sufficient to make all men wise unto 
salvation, to teach them the way to heaven 
and glory. 

But this perfect, glorious revelation of God, 
by his holy word, would be no revelation at all, 
would be but a dead letter, if God had not given 



40 REASON AND WORD 0}f' GOD 

to men his lesser but useful revelation by the 
light of reason; for nothing good or important 
could be learned without reason to give the un- 
derstanding. Have irrational animals, the birds 
of the air, the beasts of the field, the in- 
habitants of the seas, or even idiotic men — ^have 
they or can they have any knowledge of the 
revelation of God's holy word? Surely not. 
Neither could men, the most intelligent men, 
have and enjoy that revelation, if God had not 
given them reason by which they can under- 
stand, judge and receive it. Reason, therefore, 
may be considered as the foundation of God's 
great revelation by his holy word. How un- 
reasonable, then, how ungodly it is for men, the 
receivers of the gift, to speak lightly or disre- 
spectfully of that reason which God has given 
them for their guide and director, and which 
distinguishes and elevates them far above any 
other creatures upon earth. 

But, alas I there have been, and I fear there 
now may be, some who treat reason, this divine 
gift, triflingly, contemptuously; who say we 
should pay no regard to the dictates of reason, 
for it is vain, erroneous, delusive ; but we should 
be governed by our own sensibility, or by what 
we imagine the Holy Spirit teaches. And some 



IN HARMONY. 41 

say the Bible alone is a sufficient director; but 
we have already shown that the Bible, the holy 
word of God, would be of no aviil, of no use 
to men, without the exercise of reason to ena- 
ble them to understand it and see its W(;rth 
and excellence. An idiot can have no ki-ov/- 
ledge of the word of God, because he lias no 
reason to teach it to him. Reason may be con- 
sidered as the prime teacher of the word of God 
to men, and so God designed it should be, and 
gave it for that very purp^^se. 

I wouldnot, however, exalt reason above the 
Bible, or in contradiction thereto; not tijat I 
love reason less than others do, but that I lOve 
the Bible more: reason was given us rather for 
the purpose of explaining the meaning of the 
word of God, than to control, a]t< '■ it; 

rather to be its aid and suppurtoi, ., n m- op- 
poser and betrayer; its appro \-er, njsd nr»tits 
reviler. 

And reason and the Bi^^ie are ui ncnoc! jiar- 
mony with each other: they must a.^Tet , for 
both are God's instruments, r>v me-ans. of his 
revelations: and it is impossible that i\:c all- 
wise, perfect God could give a rovr^iti :; or 
command in on e way, by one nj « a i • r a- 

dict it in another; for all his ways are jursi . ^nd 



42 REASON AND THE WORD OF GOD 

true, and unchangeable — " in him is no varia- 
bleness or shadow of changing;" therefore any 
construction or commentary upon any text of 
Scripture which is in violation or contradiction 
to natural right reason, cannot be the true 
meaning of the Word of God, who is not only 
the Author of his own holy Word, but also the 
Author and Director of all nature and reason. 
The very learned orthodox English theologian, 
T. H. Home, has well said, in his Introduction 
to the Bible: ^' Before we conclude upon the 
sense of any text, so as to prove anything by 
it, we must be sure that such (sense) is not re- 
pugnant to natural reason; if such sense is re- 
pugnant to natural reason, it cannot be the true 
meaning of the Scriptures, for God is the ori- 
ginal of natural truth, as well as of that which 
comes by particular revelation. No proposition, 
therefore, which is contrary to the fundamental 
principles of reason can be the sense of any 
part of the Word of God; and that which is 
contrary to reason can no more be true and 
agreeable to revelations contained in the sacred 
writings, than God (who is the Author of one 
as well as the other) can contradict himself. 
No doctrine that comes from God can be irra- 
tional. We are sure, therefore, that any inter- 



IN HARMONY. 43 

pretation of revealed doctrines that is incon- 
sistent with common sense or reason, must be 
erroneous." Thus, Professor Home well rea- 
sons upon reason, and I trust that no candid 
Christians of any denomination can object or 
doubt the correctness of his views. 

I am, however, by no means a modern ultra- 
rationalist. I do not believe that reason alone 
is a sufficient teacher and guide to teach men 
their whole duty, and to direct them in the path 
of duty and the way to heaven, without the 
light of the Gospel and the whole Word of God 
for their pole-star and sun of righteousness to 
enlighten the path. 

If the light of reason had been sufficient and 
all that was necessary, the all-wise God would 
not have given his further perfect revelation 
by his lioly Word: for he never could do or es- 
tablish an^'thing that would be unnecessary 
or needless. All his works and providence are 
no more nor less than what was necessary and 
right. He has made and ordained nothing use- 
less, nothing but what is good and wise, though 
we have not wisdom enough to discern all his 
wisdom. Our wisdom is weak, limited; his is 
infinite, unbounded, full, perfect ! And he has 
told us that " He saw all the things he had made, 



44 REASON AND THE WORD OF GOD 

and behold all were very good." And we m^y 
well exclaim with the devout Psalmist — '' Great 
and wonderful are thy works, Lord God, Al- 
mighty ! In wisdom hast thou made them all." 

But if we lay aside the use of reason, and 
exclude the light of nature and reason, we 
should not be able to discern all the greatness, 
wonders, beauty and glory of all the works of ^ 
God, or the perfection and holiness of his divine 
providence; nor could we learn that in wisdom 
he had made them all. 

Without reason we should know nothing, fear 
nothing, love nothing, and be led to do nothing 
good or praiseworthy; but with reason and the 
Bible, and a good and faithful use of them/w^e 
may become all that is desirable — all that God 
requires; we may become v/ise unto salvation^ 
be thereby educated for heaven and glory ! 

Reason and the Bible were designed to be 
mutual helpmates, divine companions for life: 
may they never be divorced by men; they are 
necessary to each other, they should be ever 
harmoniously united. Reason without the Bi- 
ble would be insufficient, and the Bible, without 
reason to explain it, would be of no use. They 
must live and work together, and operate upon 
the heart and the understanding. One without 



IN HARMONY. 45 

the other could not give the true character of 
God, his wondrous attributes and holy provi- 
dence — could not warm the hearts of men with 
love and gratitude to God, with faith in their 
Saviour and Redeemer, and with love and good- 
will to all mankind — could not make men holy 
and happy, and induce them to give '* glory to 
God in the highest, and on earth to produce 
peace and good-will to men." 

Though we have the Bible before us, yet, 
without reason to aid us, we should not know 
that there is an almighty, all-wise, benevolent 
God, who is the Creator and Preserver of the 
whole universe, who governs and directs all 
things for the best good of his creatures and 
for the honor and glory of his holy name — we 
should not know anything perfectly of our duty 
to our Creator or to our fellow-creatures — we 
should not know good from evil, sin from holi- 
ness — we should not know that we were made 
capable of happiness here, or that an all-suffi- 
cient Saviour and Mediator was appointed to 
procure for us everlasting life and joy hereafter. 

Without the light of reason, we should 

have no clear knowledge of any kind, temporal 

or spiritual, any more than the birds of the air 

or the beasts of the field. But reason, enlight- 

4* 



46 REASON AND WORD OF GOD 

ened by the Word of God, is our only sure, 
safe guide in all we have to do or understand ; 
and if we reject or speak lightly of it, we 
treat the benevolent Author of this divine 
gift with ingratitude, with contempt. 

We are not, however, to adore and wor- 
ship nature and reason as God — as some have 
profanely done, and perhaps still do. But we 
should worship, adore and thank the blessed 
Giver thereof, for this his divine, all-important ' 
gift to men — a gift which makes ail other of 
his gifts of infinite value. 

All the gifts of God are invaluable, but the 
greatest of them, except the Bible, is reason ; 
because without the exercise of it we should 
not know the worth of any of God's gifts, or 
how to use them for our good and to the honor 
of the Giver. But reason, in connection and 
explanation of the Bible, is our perfect teacher. 
It teaches us to worship our Creator alone, 
supremely : it teaches us to love him with all 
our hearts, souls, minds and strength ; to love 
our neighbors as ourselves ; to have charity 
and good- will towards all mankind ; to receive 
Christ, our blessed Saviour, into our hearts 
with faith and love ; to obey all the commands 
and injunctions of God and of Christ ; to treas- 



IN HARMONY. 



4t 



ure up their instructions in our hearts ; to 
become holy children of God and true and 
faithful disciples of Christ, our Lord and 
Master. 

But while we highly esteem and v-aiue the 
gift, light, and revelation of reason, as explain- 
ed by that reason which God has given us, 
we would by no means underrate the perfect, 
glorious revelation of his holy Word. Is o. ! 
Though all the gifts of God are of high im- 
portance, yet we esteem the gift of his holy 
Word of infinitely more value — as the climax 
of all his gifts and blessings to man. 

But notwithstanding all the inestimable 
gifts of God are of infinite importance, yet 
they are liable to be slighted, and treated with 
neglect and ingratitude, by his sinful creatures 
on earth. The Bible is often neglected, 
thought little of, or wholly condemned ; the 
light of nature and reason is sometimes con- 
sidered of no value, or worse than useless ; 
and all the gifts of God are treated, by some, 
as if they were of no worth. This is a sore 
evil under the sun, and a great sin against the 
Author and Giver of all blessings. 

Let us then try to bring about a reforma- 
tion, for our own good and to the honor of 



48 REASON AND THE WORD OF GOD 

God — do what will be fruits of true reform. 
Let us " cease to do evil and learn to do 
well f search and study the Holy Scriptures 
daily, constantly, Avith devout, grateful hearts 
and inquiring minds, in order to behold the 
excellence, the wisdom, the justice, the loveli- 
ness, and the encouragements and hopes there- 
in contained. Let us love the Lord our God 
with all our hearts, and obey all his com- 
mands. Let us be governed by the dictates 
of the light of nature and reason, so far as 
they are consistent with the Word of God, 
which we hold the}^ always are unless cor- 
rupted by men. Let us exercise our reason 
well, for our good, the benefit of our fellow- 
men, and to the honor of the Oliver. Let us 
reason together with candor and charity, and 
not with bitterness and deceit — not obscurely 
or delusively, but clearly, fairly, truly. Let 
us bring forth our strong, powerful, convincing 
reasons upon all fundamental, essential reli- 
gious doctrines, and everything of high im- 
portance for time or eternity. Let us receive 
our blessed Saviour into our hearts with faith 
and love, treasure up his instructions in our 
hearts, and regard all his institutions with 
love and gratitude. Let us love our neighbors 



IN HARMONY. 49 

as ourselves, and have charity and good-will 
toward all mankind. Let us obey all the com- 
mands and injunctions of God and of Christ, 
and not disregard what reason teaches. Thus, 
then, we shall produce a happy and glorious 
reformation, and be, we hope and trust, through 
the grace of God and the mediation of his Son, 
fitted and prepared for admission into His 
glorious kingdom, who is the '' Giver of every 
good and perfect gift." 



50 WORKING OUT 



WORKING OUT OUR OWN SALVATION. 



''Work out your own salvation with fear and trem- 
bling, for it is God which worketh in you, both to 
will and to do of his good pleasure." — Phil. i. 12, 13. 

It will be well, in the first place, to consider 
what must have been the true, full meaning 
of the direction of the Apostle in the text ; 
and I will give it, according to my understand- 
ing, briefly thus : Work out your own — your 
temporal, spiritual, everlasting salvation — by 
the performance of good, useful, pious works, 
with holy fear and trembling; for it is such 
works that are of God, or the works of God 
working in you, to persuade 3^ou both to will 
and to do, according to his good pleasure, to 
his acceptance and approbation. 

With such views of the subject, and as Paul 
was an inspired apostle of the Lord, we must 
consider his direction as a command of God, 
not only to the Philippians, but to all men in 
every age, to be active, alive, earnestly en- 
gaged in all good works, working out their 



OUR OWN SALVATION. 51 

own salvation, as precursory to the working of 
God in them, both to will and to do of his good 
pleasure, to his acceptance and approbation. 

In all the affairs of life there is something, 
much, for men to do. In the earthly field, they 
must work and labor in order to procure a 
crop for their support and comfort ; they must 
sow the seed, and cultivate the soil, before 
God will give the increase ; they must labor, 
before God can bless their labors. 

So, in the spiritual field, they have great 
works to perform — holy works of the heart ; 
they must pray God to forgive their sins, 
before they can expect his pardon ; they must 
humbly ask for favors and blessings, before 
they can hope that God will grant them. 

The all-wise, benevolent Creator constituted, 
designed and qualified men for good works, 
for useful labor and services, which will make 
them in some degree God-like and Christ-like : 
for Christ said, '' My Father worketh hitherto, 
and I work."' Yes, the blessed Saviour, while 
on earth, went about continually, doing good 
works — healing the sick, both of body and 
mind ; comforting the afflicted and mourners ; 
causing the Gospel to be preached to the poor, 
and many other good works. 



52 WORKING OUT 

And God made work and labor absolutely 
necessary for our support, and for our intel- 
lectual and religious health and improvement. 
It was a primary establishment. When God 
first created man, he set him to work : '' And 
the Lord God took the man and put him into 
the garden of Eden to dress and keep it" — to 
take care of all the beautiful flowers and de- 
lightful trees of the garden. Such was the 
first delightful employment of our first parents. 
But alas I they soon fell from that happy es- 
tate by transgression. 

And immediately after the fall, God caused 
the man to work : ^' And the Lord God sent 
him forth from the garden of Eden to till the 
ground" — to work for his living — and said to 
him, ^^ In the sweat of thy face thou shalt eat 
bread all the days of thy life." Work, there- 
fore, seems to have been made, as it were, con- 
stitutional in man. And always to the present 
day, though God has constantly given to the 
earth his rain and sunshine, yet" no one ever 
rationally expected to raise a crop for his use 
and support without work — without sowing 
the seed, cultivating the ground, and taking 
care of the produce. 
Neither can food or sustenance for the heart 



OUR OWN SALVATION. 53 

and soul be procured without spiritual, pious 
works. Meditation, penitence, prayer, praise 
and thanksgiving to God, are the necessary 
availing works which, with the blessing of God, 
and with the spiritual rain and sunshine of his 
Holy Spirit and the mediation of the blessed 
Saviour, produce satisfying nourishment for 
the heart, which if *' a man eat thereof he shall 
never hunger again ; and if he drink thereof 
he shall never thirst again." 

But what are we to understand by working 
out our own salvation ? It has an extensive 
meaning, both temporal and spiritual. Its 
lowest sense is, that we should do all those 
works that are necessary for our support and 
for our happiness — provide well for ourselves, 
our household, and all our fellow-creatures in 
want, so far as we are able ; and also perform 
such works as will contribute to the benefit 
and happiness of all mankind — feed the hun- 
gry, clothe the naked, supply the wants of the 
destitute, visit the fatherless and widows in 
their affliction, and relieve the sick and sor- 
rowful. Such will be the works of God work- 
ing in us to his acceptance and approbation. 

But the most important meaning of the text 
is of a spiritual nature, a work of the heart. It 
5 



54 WORKING OUT 

means that we should endeavor, by good and 
pious work, to work out our ow^n everlasting 
salvation — that we should faithfully use all 
the means and powers God has given us for 
the purpose, repent and become reconciled to 
God, obey all his commands, and live holy 
lives ; and also do all we can for the salvation 
and happiness of all mankind — persuade them 
to love the Lord their God with all their hearts, 
and their neighbors as themselves; to receive 
Christ into their hearts with faith and love ; 
to preach the Gospel to the poor, which is able 
to make them wise (and rich) unto salvation. 
Everlasting, spiritual salvation is mostly a 
work of the heart ; but the head and all the 
intellectual powers and capacities which God 
has given, are needed, to inform the heart 
what it ought to do and how it ought to feel^ 
both towards God and men. 

But how are you to do such works ? You 
are told by some divines that you cannot do 
anything spiritually good ; that you are na- 
tively, totally depraved — wholl}^ absolutely in- 
clined and by nature ohligcd to do evil ; that 
you cannot do anything towards your own 
salvation ; that your best works and prayers 
are an abomination to the Lord. 



OUR OWN SALVATION. 55 

But can you believe that the infinitely just 
God, by his servant Paul, commanded you to 
do what you had no power to do ? — that he 
required of you what he had not given you 
capacity to perform ? If a human governor 
should thus decree, he would be denounced as 
a most unjust, unreasonable, despotic tyrant. 
And I must conclude that all men, by the 
power and capacities which God has given 
them, and with the influence of his Holy Spirit, 
can obey this reasonable command — can work 
out, as commanded, their own salvation — God 
working in them to induce them both to will 
and to do of his good pleasure. 

Strange and inconsistent ideas on this sub- 
ject, I apprehend, have arisen from a wrong 
conception of the works necessary for salvation. 
Some have taught that the work of salvation 
is a kind of mysterious, miraculous, instanta- 
neous, lightning-like work of the Holy Spirit 
only, in which men have nothing to do, and in 
which they can do nothing if they try. They 
may therefore argue, that they may as well go 
into a spiritual sleep and deadliness — hide, as 
it were in a napkin, the capacities and talents 
God has given them for the w^ork, and slothful- 
ly, stupidly, wait for the Holy Spirit to come 



56 WORKING OUT 

down and do all for them; to waft them into 
the haven of salvation, without their even set- 
ting their sails to any holy breeze, without their 
uplifting one prayer to God for aid, or waking 
from their deathlike slumbers. 

This would be like the mariner who would 
trust alone to Providence to carry his ship over 
the ocean, while he neglected his whole duty, 
even refused to unfurl his sails to the wind, or 
to let on the steam to the engine, or to provide 
a helm and compass to guide the ship, presum- 
ing that He who rides upon the wdiirlwind and 
directs the storm, will do all that is necessary 
for his success and the safety of the ship and 
all aboard, while he lies heedlessly asleep in 
the cabin. 

And the voyage to heaven must be perform- 
ed with much pleasing labor, with holy works 
of the heart, with constant watchfulness, even 
over ourselves, and a faithful look-out to avoid 
the breakers and whirlpools of sin; for there 
are many dangers and deceptions in the course 
not laid down in the chart of life, which may 
be overcome by the performance of all the 
works necessary and availing to salvation. 

And if all men are not saved, it will not be 
because God has not given them power to re- 



OUR OWN SALVATION. 57 

ceive salvation as offered, and to work for it 
as commanded; but it will be because they do 
not heartily desire to receive salvation, and to 
work for it as God has commanded and given 
them power to do. 

But perhaps it will be said that we trust in 
our own good works for salvation, and not en- 
tirely in the free, sovereign grace of God. In 
some sense we do trust in such works, because 
we consider them not as our own unaided works, 
but as virtually the w^orks of God, working 
in us to enable us both to will and to do of 
his good pleasure and to his acceptance. But 
this trust is subordinate; our supreme trust 
is in the grace of God and the mediation of 
Christ. 

• We trust in our works to procure the salva- 
tion of our souls, just as we trust in our own 
labors to obtain the necessaries of life. God 
has given us as full powers and capacities to 
perform good and availing spiritual works, as 
he has to do temporal, useful labor. 

And as in the earthly field, we trust that if 
we use all the means that God has given us, we 
shall be able to procure the necessaries and 
comforts of life; for we know that God is kind 
and merciful, and that he careth for us, and 
5* 



58 WORKING OUT 

will bless our labor by giving his rain and 
sunshine, and making the earth fruitful ; so 
in the spiritual field, we trust that if we 
perform our whole duty towards our God, our 
Saviour, and our fellow-men, he will of his infi- 
nite love give us the influence of his Holy Spi- 
rit, and bestow upon us everlasting salvation. 
But we do not trust that our best works will 
be of any avail without the blessing and ac- 
ceptance of God of them. '^ Paul may plant 
and Apollos water, but it is God alone who giv- 
eth the increase." 

And as in the earthly field we do not expect 
that rain and sunshine will give us a crop to 
supply our w^ants vv^ithout some labor on our 
part; so, in the spiritual field, we cannot hope 
that God will ever work in us the works of sal-' 
vation before we begin or try to work them 
out ourselves, as he has commanded, (though 
we believe that God graciously may, and often 
does, first cause men so to work by the influence 
of his Holy Spirit, or other means of grace.) 
Neither God or Christ ever promised that any 
one who would not ask, should receive salva- 
tion; or that any one vvho would not seek, should 
find life; or that any one Vv^ho would not knock 
at the door by prayer and supplication, should 



OUR OWN SALVATION. 59 

be received into the kingdom. There must be 
a desire, a wiliin2:ness in men to receive salva- 
tion, and to work for it as commanded, before 
God will be pleased to grant it. ■ 

God never saves a sinner before he is willing 
to be saved, (though by divine providence he 
is first made willing;) but when by any means 
he is made willing, he may then be saved through 
the grace of God and the mediation of Christ. 

We are sensible that we ourselves, unaided, 
can do nothing to merit salvation, for all the 
merits of our best works belong not to us, but 
to Him who gives us the power and encourage- 
ment to work them, and who would that all 
men should be saved, and therefore has given 
them power, and commanded them to work 
out their own salvation — he working in them, 
to enable them both to will and to do of his 
good pleasure. 

But we trust, and the Bible gives us en- 
couragement to trust and hope, that if we 
come to God with sincere repentance and rely- 
ing faith in Christ our blessed Saviour, if we 
cease to do evil and learn to do well, he will, 
of his infinite love and mercy, grant us salva- 
tion ; for he hath declared, that '' when the 
wicked man considereth and turneth away 



60 WORKING OUT 

from his wickedness and doeth that which is 
lawful and right, he shall save his soul alive — 
he shall surely live — he shall not die." 

But let it be understood, that while we have 
a subordinate trust in our own good works, 
yet, above all things, do w^e supremely trust 
in the free, merciful grace of God to sanctify 
our works and make them acceptable to him, 
and, through the Mediator, effectual to our 
salvation. 

It is a false notion that no trust should be 
placed in good works in men, for all good 
works are virtually the works of God working 
in them. God alone is entitled to all perfect 
goodness, and there is nothing good but what 
comes, directly or indirectly, from him ; and 
what comes in any way therefrom, must be 
trustworthy and praiseworthy. 

Christ trusted in his works, not as his own, 
but as the Father's, who sent him, and said, 
** Believe me for my w^orks' sake." And he 
sent a message to John the Baptist com- 
mendatory of his works — as that he gave 
^' sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, caused 
the lame to walk, raised the dead to life, and 
caused the Gospel to be preached to the poor." 
He always spoke of his works as the fullest 



OUR OWN SALVATION. 61 

evidence of his divine mission ; and good 
works in men should be considered as the best 
evidence of the fruits of holiness. But though 
good works are important duties never to be 
neglected, yet they are not to be accounted 
meritorious or entitled to claim reward ; yet 
they are not to be condemned as contrary to 
the will of God^ or the benefit of men ; though 
I know that some austere divines have said 
that there is more hope of a most abandoned, 
depraved sinner, than of a real moral man — 
that there is no religion in morality, and that 
good works in men are unavailing and worse 
than useless. Such absurd dogmas are op- 
posed to the word of God, and to the dictates 
of nature, reason and common sense. 

The Holy Scriptures highly commend good 
works and all moral duties : they declare that 
to do justice is better than sacrifice, and that 
to fear God and keep his commandments is the 
conclusion of the whole matter and the whole 
duty of man. 

And Christ constantly taught and practised 
in commendation of good works : his beautiful, 
divine sermon on the mount is full of moral 
doctrines ; and it is recorded of him that he 
loved the truly moral man, and to such an one 



62 WORKING OUT 

he said, '' Thou art not far from the kingdom 
of heaven." 

And St. Paul often recommended and urged 
the performance of good works. He wrote to 
Titus, ^' This is a faithful sa^ang, and these 
things I will that thou affirm constantly, that 
they who have believed in God might be care- 
ful to maintain good works" — works accept- 
able to God and beneficial to men. And Paul 
also directs Timothy to charge those that are 
rich in this world, to do good — to be rich in 
good works, ready to distribute, willing to 
communicate" (and he sets forth the benefits 
and blessings to be derived therefrom, add- 
ing :) 'thereby laying up in store for them- 
selves a good foundation for the time to come, 
that they may lay hold on eternal life." 

And the Apostle James said, " Pure religion 
and undefiled before God and the Father is 
this : ^' To visit the fatherless and widows in 
their afflicytions, and to keep himself unspotted 
from the world." Such are good religious 
works of salvation, acceptable to God and 
beneficial to men ; and they are satisfactory 
evidence of a good heart and a good life. 
There can be no good life, there can be no 
good Christian, v\athout them. Even the bless- 



OUR OWN SALVATION. 63 

ed Jesus, while on earth, could not have lived 
a good, pure, perfectly holy life v^ithout per- 
forming good works ; his very nature led him 
to go about continually doing good works, 
which gave glory to God and brought salva- 
tion to men. And from his works we know 
that he is the Son of God and the Saviour of 
the world. 

And at all times it is by the example and 
influence of good works that men individually 
may be made happy, that domestic and social 
joys abound, that life in all conditions may be 
comfortable, that happiness may be exten- 
sively diffused, that virtue and religion are 
promoted, that the world is blessed, heaven is 
holy, and God is glorified. 

Who then can condemn good w^orks in men, 
the works of God working in them ? Who 
will presume to sa^^ they are unavailing, and 
worse than useless ? 

Paul, in his last address to the Philippians, 
pleads earnestly for good works. '' Finally, 
brethren,^' says he, (and so I say to you,) 
*' whatsoever things are true, whatsoever 
things are honest, whatsoever things are just, 
whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things 
are lovely, whatsoever things are of good re- 



64 WORKING OUT OUR OWN SALVATION. 

port, and if there be any virtue, if there be any 
praise, think of these things '^ — think of these 
things and do them, heartily do them, and so 
work out your own salvation, while *' God is 
working in you, both to will and to do of his 
good pleasure." 



PHARISAISM AND DUPLICITY. 



"Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites — 
blind guides." — Matt, xxiii. 13. 

The word woe is sometimes used to signify 
a curse, or condemnation. But it cannot be 
supposed that Christ used it in that sense ; for 
he came into the world not to curse, but to bless 
— not to condemn a sinful world, but that the 
world through him might be saved, be redeem- 
ed from sin. His very coming was the greatest 
blessing that ever God gave to men; it was his 
constant habit to bless the good and the faith- 
ful, and in this world not unkindly to condemn 
even the wicked and impenitent. When Peter 
declared his true character, he blessed him; and 
when he wickedly, ungratefully denied him, he 
did not in words condemn him, but, with only 
a look, left him to be condemned by his own 
conscience. He would not condemn the wo- 
man taken in adultery, but mercifully told her 
to go and sin no more. He did not condemn 
6 



66 PHARISAISM AND HYPOCRISY. 

his murderers, but devoutly, compassionately, 
prayed to his Father to forgive them. His na- 
ture was so full of love and compassion, that he 
could not do an unkind act or utter an afflictive 
word. What, therefore, Christ meant in his ex 
pression to the Scribes and Pharisees in our 
text, must have been as a lamentation, and that 
he was highly displeased, that he was greatly 
grieved on account of their unholy, hypocriti- 
cal conduct, and their irreligious and absurd 
rites and ceremonies. 

But as there was then no sect, or class, or 
body of men, that received from Christ such 
severe and often rebukes and disapprobation 
as the Scribes and Pharisees did, we must 
conclude that there was in their character, 
conduct, rites and ceremonies, something most 
objectionable, wrong and wicked. I will there- 
fore attempt to give briefly their true charac- 
ter, and, as perfectly as I can, trace their ori- 
gin and progress. And then I will make an 
inquiry, a thorough examination, to ascertain if 
there is now in our houses, in our churches, in 
our societies, or in the civilized, Christianized 
world, anything of a pharasaical, hypocritical 
nature existing among men, among those who 
should be sincere loving brothers. 



PHARISAISM AND HYPOCRISY. 6t 

The character given by Christ of the Scribes 
and Pharisees is most odious, and entirely un- 
worthy of imitation. In the iirst place, he pro- 
nounces them hypocrites ; this term alone 
comprehends almost everything that is displeas- 
ing and despicable in society. 

Bat let us describe who and what a hypocrite 
is. A hypocrite is one who pretends to be what 
he is not, always professing to be better than 
what he really is. He is a dissembler, a de- 
ceiver, a wolf in sheep^s clothing, an enemy in 
the disguise of friendship — he sails under false 
colors — pretends to be more holy than others, 
who practically are more holy than himself — 
in a word, he resembles the great deceiver, who 
pretended to our first parents that he desired 
to give them light, and knowledge, and wisdom, 
to make them as gods, while his sole object w^as 
their destruction and misery. 

But let us consider w^hat Scribes and Phari- 
sees, or hypocrites as Ciirist called them, are 
in a religious and pious view. Hear what He, 
who spoke as never man spoke, said to them 
and of them. They say and do not, said he; 
they bind heavy burdens and lay them on men's 
shoulders, but they themselves will not move 
them with one of their finders. All their w^orks 



68 PHARISAISM AND HYPOCRISY. 

thej do to be seen of men. They pretend to 
worship God with their lips, while their hearts 
are cold and far from him. They cry, Lord, Lord, 
but do not the will of my Father who is in 
heaven. They make void the word of God by 
their traditions. They boast of their good deeds, 
that the}^ are more holy than others who are 
practically more holy than themselves, while 
publicans and harlots will be justified rather 
than they. They teach men to love their neigh- 
bors and hate their enemies. Again he said 
to them: '' Ye shut up the kingdom of heaven 
against men; for ye neither go in yourselves, 
nor suffer them that are entering to go in. Yo 
devour widows' houses, and for pretense make 
long prayers, sounding a trumpet before you, that 
you may be seen and have glory of men. Ye 
outwardly appear righteous to men, but with- 
in ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.'^ Many 
other similar descriptions of the Scribes and 
Pharisees may be found in the New Testament; 
some of them are figurative; but the general 
meaning, undoubtedly, is most severe and con- 
demnatory against them. 

We will now briefly consider the origin and 
progress of the Scribes and Pharisees, or hypo- 
crites, as Christ called them. 



PHARISAISM AND HYPOCRISY. 69 

It appears from sacred and profane history, 
that while the spirit of prophesy continued 
there were no religious sects among the Jews; 
the authority and influence of the prophets 
checked the rise of difPerent opinions. The sects 
which afterwards prevailed, arose gradually. 
And we cannot ascertain exactly the time of 
the origin of the Scribes; but it is evident that 
nearly all the sects arose from the doctrines 
taught by the Scribes after the return from 
Babylonian captivity. The Scribes were men- 
tioned very early in sacred history, and it has 
been supposed that they were of two descrip- 
tions, the ecclesiastical and the civil. It is said 
in Judges, v. 14, '^out of Zebulon came they 
that handle the pen of the writer f and the 
Rabbis say that the Scribes were mainly 
of the tribe of Simeon; but it is thought that 
only those of the tribe of Levi w^ere allowed 
to transcribe the Holy Scriptures. 

The scribes are frequently called wise men, 
counsellers and doctors. In the reign of David, 
Jeremiah; in the reign of Hezekiah, Shebna; 
and in the reign of Josiah, Shapham, are all 
called scribes, and are ranked with the chief 
officers of the kingdom. And. Elishama, the 
scribe in the reign of Jehoiakim, is mentioned 
6* 



TO PHARISAISM AND HYPOCRISY. 

among the princes. We read also in Jer. lii. 25, 
of the principal scribe of the host, who seemed 
to be an officer to muster the people. 

Previously to the Babylonian captivity, the 
word ^scribe was applied to any person who 
was employed in transcribing manuscripts; and 
they who were remarkable for writing w^ell 
were highly esteemed. 

The civil scribes are not mentioned in the 
NcAv Testament. The ecclesiastic scribes were 
originally confined to writing copies of the 
law; and the knowledge they thereby acquired 
led them to become instructors to the people 
of the written law, which they read publicly. 
Baruck was a scribe to Jeremiah. And Ezra 
is called a ready scribe in the Law of Moses, 
having prepared his heart to seek the law of 
the Lord and to do it, and to teach in Israel 
statutes and judgments, (see Ezra, vii. 6-10;) 
but there is no mention of the Scribes being 
formed into a distinct body of men till after 
the cessation of prophecy. But when there 
were no inspired teachers in Israel, and no 
divine oracle in the temple, the scribes pre- 
sumed to interpret, expound and comment upon 
the law and the prophets in the schools and in 
the synagogues. And it was then that they 



PHARISAISM AND HYPOCRISY. 71 

became corrupt, and introduced various glosses, 
interpretations and dogmas, which perplexed 
and perverted, instead of explaining the text. 
And then arose the unauthorized maxim, that 
the oral or traditional law was of Divine 
origin, as well as the written law of Moses. 
And in process of time it was asserted, that 
when Moses was forty days upon Mount Sinai, 
he received from God two sets of laws, one in 
writing, the other oral; and that the oral set 
of laws was communicated by Moses to Aaron 
and Joshua; and that it passed down from 
generation to generation, by the tradition of 
the elders, and the great national council 
Tvhich was established in the time of Moses: 
and these oral laws were to be considered as 
supplemental and explanatory of the written 
laws, which were represented as imperfect, 
obscure and defective: they were led to ex- 
pound the written laws, by their traditions, in 
direct opposition to the plain meaning of the 
text. 

Prideaux says, these traditions, as they are 
called, became too numerous, by the middle of 
the second century after Christ, to be preserved 
by the memory ; therefore the Rabbi Judah, 
the President of the Sanhedrim, collected them 



t2 PHAEISAISM AND HYPOCRISY. 

into six books, v/hich were called the Mishna, 
or repetition of the oral laws. The Mishna 
soon became the study of the learned Jews^ 
who employed themselves in making comments 
upon it ; and these comments they called 
the Gemara, or complement, because by them 
the Mishna is fully explained, and the whole 
traditionary doctrine of their laws and religion 
completed. Thus the Mishna is the text, and 
the Gemara the comment; and both together 
make what they call The T'almud. That Talmud 
made by the Jews in Judea is called the Jeru- 
salem Talmud; and that by the Jews in Baby- 
lon, the Babylonian Talmud: the former was 
completed about the year of our Lord three 
hundred, and the latter, in the beginning of the 
sixth century. 

During Christ^s ministry the Scribes made 
the law of Moses and the prophets their prin- 
cipal study, and they were employed in in- 
structing the people. Their reputed skill in 
the Scriptures probably induced Herod to con- 
sult them concerning the time when the Mes- 
siah was to be born ; and they were men of 
great power, influence and authority among 
the Jews. 

Scribes, doctors of the law, and lawyers, 



PHARISAISM AND HYPOCRISY. 13 

were only different names for the same class of 
persons. Those who, in the fifth chapter of 
Luke, are called Pharisees and Doctors of the 
law, are soon after called Pharisees and Scribes; 
and he who by St. Mathew is called lawyer, 
is by St. Mark called one of the Scribes. They 
had scholars under their care, to whom they 
taught the knowledge of the law. These 
scholars in the schools sat on low stools, placed 
at the feet of the Doctors: hence the expres- 
sion of St. Paul, that he'^vas brought up at the 
feet of Gamaliel, or that he sat on a low stool 
placed at the feet of Gamaliel, a celebrated 
Jewish Doctor. 

At the time of our Saviour, the Scribes had, 
in a manner, laid aside the written law, having 
no further regard thereto than as it agreed 
with their traditionary expositions of it. And 
so, by their additions, corruptions and misre- 
presentations, they had made the Word of God 
of none effect by their traditions; and this ac- 
counts for the strange blindness and wrong 
notions of the Jews respecting the Messiah, 
whom they had been taught b}^ these com- 
mentators to expect as a temporal prince, 
though Moses and the prophets taught other- 
wise. And had the Jews fully believed in 



*I4 PHARISAISM AND HYPOCRISY. 

Moses and the Prophets, instead of the Scribes 
and the Pharisees, they could not have crucified 
the Lord of Glory. Christ, when speaking of 
them of old times, classed the prophets and 
wise men, and Scribes and Pharisees together; 
but of the later Scribes he always spoke with 
censure and disapprobation, and usually joined 
them with the Pharisees, to which sect they in 
general belonged. And St. Paul inquires, 
(Cor. i. 20,) ''Who is the wise? who is the 
scribe ? who is the 'disputer of this world ?" 
evidently feeling a disapprobation for such 
as, professing to be wise above v/hat is written, 
become fools. 

But although the Scribes have never been 
taken to be a Jewish sect by themselves, dis- 
tinctly considered; yet the later Scribes, (those 
after the cessation of prophecy,) by their 
glosses, interpretations, traditions and commen- 
taries, formed and established the sect of the 
Pharisees, with whom they seemed to be in- 
timately connected in the time of our Saviour, 
forming, as it were, one body in alliance, and 
being always named together in his censures 
and rebukes. 

It is not clearly ascertained at what time the 
sect of the Pharisees was first established. 



PHARISAISM AND HYPOCRISY. 15 

Goodwin thought that they arose about three 
hundred years before Christ ; but Josephus 
gives no account of them till one hundred and 
eighty years before Christ, when Hyrcanus was 
high priest. Then, says Josephus, they were 
a sect of considerable weight. Their name 
was derived from Pharos^ a Hebrew word which 
signifies separated or set apart, because they 
afiected an extraordinary degree of sanctity 
and piety. Their distinguishing dogma was 
a zealous adherence to the traditions of the 
Eiders, which they placed upon, at least, an equal 
footing with the written law. They were strict 
observers of external rites and ceremonies, and 
superstitiously exact in paying tithes of the 
most trifling articles, while they frequently 
neglected most essential duties. They were of 
opinion that formally good works might claim 
reward from God; and they ascribed an extra- 
ordinary degree of merit to the observance of 
rules which they had themselves established 
as works of supererogation — such as their fre- 
quent washings and fastings, their strict avoid- 
ance of supposed sinners, such as Publicans 
and Samaritans, their rigorous observance of 
the Sabbath, and their long prayers, which they 
ostentatiously made in the synagogues and at 



([6 PHARISAISM AND HYPOCRISY. 

the corners of the streets, to be seen of men. 
Yet their specious sanctity of manners, and 
their hypocritical display of zeal for religion, 
gave them a great influence over the common 
people, and a vast power and authority in the 
Jewish state. The people generally held to 
the tenets and observed the traditions of the 
Pharisees. 

As to faith, the Pharisees believed in the im- 
mortality of the soul, and in the existence of 
angels and spirits; and they had an imperfect 
belief in future rewards and punishments 
hereafter, and in some other respects their 
faith was not wholly unscriptural and irrational. 

2. We are to inquire, examine and ascertain, 
if there is now existing in domestic life, in the 
church, in society, or in the civilized, Christian- 
ized world, any thing of a Pharisaical nature 
among men — if any, though not nominal, yet 
practical Scribes and Pharisees, can be found 
in this day and generation. 

In noticing, stating, or condemning the errors, 
imperfections, faults, or sins of men, it is always 
commendable to begin the examination with 
ourselves. We should first cast out the hcam 
in our own eyes, so that we may see clearly to 
pull out the mote (in a friendly manner) from 



PHARISAISM AND HYPOCRISY. *lX 

the eyes of our brethren. One who judges 
himself severely, truly, will judge others right- 
eously, charitably, justly. One who is willing 
to cast out the beam in his own eye, will not 
be solicitous to look sharp for a small mote that 
may be in his brother^s eye. 

Now let us seriously ask ourselves. Are we 
entirely free from pharisaism, hypocrisy and 
deception ? Do we always appear what we 
really are ? Do we sometimes put on the ap- 
pearance of sanctity, while sin remains in our 
hearts ? In our most holy performances, in 
our addresses to the throne of grace, do we 
sometimes offer only lip-service, when our 
hearts are cold, undevout, and far from God? 
Do we ever cry, Lord ! Lord ! and not do the 
will of our Father in heaven ? Do we love 
our neighbors and friends, and practically hate 
our enemies ? In our moral duties and conduct 
in society, are we always upright, just and 
kind; or do we never dissemble or practise any 
kind of deception or injustice, directly or in- 
directly ? Do we constantly feed the hungry 
and clothe the naked, or do we only say to 
them, be ye filled, be ye clothed ? When we 
behold the poor, the afflicted, the distressed 
and the wounded, do we immediately have 
7 



t8 PHARISAISM AND HYPOCRISY. 

compassion on them, go to them, supply their 
wants, comfort them, bind up their wounds, 
pour in oil and wine, and promise to come 
again and do for them what further they may 
need ; or, like the priest and the Levite, do 
we pass by on the other side, without granting 
any relief ? Do v/e, in religious matters, pro- 
mote the cause of pure Christianity ? Do we, 
as much as in our power, cause the Gospel to 
be preached to the poor ? Or do we even 
neglect to attend the public worship of God 
ourselves, with our families ? In fine, do we 
always imitate the perfect example of our Sa- 
viour, who went about continually doing good, 
or do we too often follow the practices of the 
Scribes and Pharisees, on whom Christ de- 
nounced a woe ? 

After thoroughly examining and rightly 
judging ourselves, we may be allowed, kindly 
and in a friendly manner, to consider, and even 
to judge, in the case of our neighbors and the 
rest of mankind; to inquire about their pro- 
fessions and their conduct, their faith and 
their works. Are there not some apparently 
good people in all departments and business 
in society, who in their transactions are hypo- 
critical and delusive — who too highly and 



PHARISAISM AND HYPOCRISY. 19 

untruly applaud some things, and unjustly 
misrepresent others — who speak not the truth 
impartially in ail cases ? Are there not some 
professors of religion in some of the churches 
who show more appearance of sanctity in their 
faces than evidence of holiness in their hearts 
and lives ? And are there not some religious 
sects who make an outward show of piety, while 
their he?.rts and lives produce not the fruits of 
righteousness — who, in a manner, make void 
the Gospel of Christ by the tradition of creeds, 
catechisms, confessions of faith and dogmas 
of human invention — who practically thank 
God that they are not like other men, or even 
as some other denomination of Christians — 
who pronounce all who cannot believe in their 
creeds, heretics, unbelievers, and not worthy 
of the name of Christians — having none of that 
charity which suffereth long and is kind, which 
envieth not, is not puffed up, which believeth 
all things, hopeth all things, endureth all 
things ? But I make no assertion, pass no 
condemnation against any one, or any sect ; I 
only make a serious inquiry : and I would 
that the inquiry might be made to all, ''quick 
and powerful, sharper than any two-edged 
sword, piercing to the soul and spirit, and a 



80 PHARISAISM AND HYPOCRISY. 

discerner of the thoughts and intents of the 
heart/' 

But Pharisaism, dissimulation and hypocri- 
sy are not confined to religious professors; they 
may be found, more or less, in all civilized so- 
ciety, in all professions, and among every class 
or condition of men. They abound greatly in 
the political world. Are there not many pro- 
fessedly patriotic statesmen, who pretend to 
love their country dearly, but who love them- 
selves more ? who can talk and proclaim for 
hours — yea, days, as if their hearts would break, 
about the good, the rights, the prosperity and 
happiness of the people, and the honor and 
glory of their country, while they are, in fact, 
only seeking their own interest and to gratify 
their own personal ambition ? and do they not 
sometimes flatter and deceive the people, to gain 
their approbation and their votes ? I do not 
know what ground there may be for such inqui- 
ries ; but I wish that some of our great or pre- 
tended great politicians, who can tell, would 
give us the whole, the plain truth of the matter. 

I am, however, well persuaded, that there 
have been, and now are, many, very many, pure, 
sincere, excellent, patriotic statesmen in our 
country. I know we have had a Washington^ 



PHARISAISM AND HYPOCRISY. 81 

whxose name alone speaks everything that is 
good, great, worthy, and patriotic ; against 
him even the tongue of slander cannot hiss a 
word: and I might also name many of his co- 
patriots, his friends and the friends of their 
country, as worthy of all praise, but I leave 
this to history. And our future hopes and pros- 
pects must be enlivened and brightened by the 
fact, that we have now many great, distinguish- ^ 
ed statesmen and patriots whom God has given 
us, and in whom we may safely trust; who pos- 
sess the love and esteem of all true Americans, 
and the admiration of the whoie civilized world. 
Still, however, we must lament that in all 
professions, in all kinds of occupation and busi- 
ness, among men of all ranks and condition, 
there is too much hypocrisy and false appear- 
ance in the world. We need not particularize. 
Of this, however, we may be assured, that 
though Christ is not now on earth to rel^uke 
the wicked, deceitful and pharasaical; yet, by 
his Gospel, he does and will pronounce a woe 
upon all those who are false and hypocritical 
in their conduct, rites and ceremonies ; but upon 
all those who are sincere and pure in heart and 
life; who do the things they speak; who love 
the Lord their God with all their hearts, and 
7* 



bJi PHAIIISAISM AND HYPOCRISY. 

their rieiglibors as themselves; who do the will 
of their Father who is in heaven; who perform 
their whole duty towards God and men; who 
receive Christ into their hearts with faith and 
love, and truly imitate him, treasure up his in- 
striiotions in their hearts, and observe all his 
ordinances — to all such he, the final Judge, will 
annjunce that soul-satisfying, beatific decree 
.and proclamation, ''Well done, good and faith- 
ful servants; enter ye into the joys of your 
Lord !'^ 



LECTURE 



SUPPORT OF TRUE, OLD ORTHODOXY. 



It is my intention clearly to define, and fully 
to support Orthodoxy — true, evangelical, bibli- 
cal Orthodoxy — I mean, so far as respects God, 
the Father Almighty, and his Son and Holy 
Spirit. I do not intend, now, to dwell much 
upon other controverted points, some of which 
may be, and some are not, absolutely essential 
to salvation and eternal life. 

Our best lexicographers define Orthodoxy to 
be '' soundness of opinion and doctrine — con- 
sonance with the genuine doctrines taught in 
the Scriptures." And the Greek words '* orthos 
and doxcij^^ from which our English word is 
derived, literally signify right thinking, or true 
faith. And the Bible definition is, '' The faith 
wliich was once delivered to the saints," which 



84 LECTURE IN SUPPORT OF 

must be orthodox, for it was the Gospel of 
Christ. 

We must therefore inquire and define what 
is this true, evangelical orthodoxy and faith 
which was once delivered to the saints ? It is 
my design to go to the source of all truth, and 
to define it as I find it in the Word of God, in - 
the teachings of Christ, and the Prophets and 
Apostles, and as received and held by the early 

Christians and Fathers of the Church of the first 

« 

centuries after Christ. I will first state it 
clearly, intelligibly, and then produce the evi- 
dence to support it; and if the evidence is not 
satisfactory and conclusive, I ask no one to 
believe or receive it; but I earnestly entreat 
all orthodox Christians, all who are called 
orthodox, and all lovers of the truth, to con- 
sider this subject seriously, prayerfully, free 
from prejudice, for the truth's sake. I view it 
of great consequence: and at my age, (in my 
85th year,) when I must expect soon to be 
called before the Judge of all the earth, to give 
an account of what I may say or do, I can have 
no personal object in view — I dare not advance 
anything, but to maintain the '' truth as it is in 
Jesus," and to support the whole Word of God; 
and I would proceed with as much awe and 



TRUE, OLD ORTHODOXY. 85 

reverence, as if I was under examination before 
the appointed Judge of all the earth. 

And now, after many years' diligent con- 
sideration, and a careful examination of the 
whole of the Scriptures, (the main source of 
knowledge of the subject,) and, in particular, 
' of the commands and proclamations of God 
himself, and also of the teachings of Jesus 
Christ, the prophecies of the prophets, the 
preaching of the apostles of Christ, and the 
opinions of the early Christians and fathers of 
the church of the first centuries — I must con- 
clude that the only true, evangelical ortho- 
doxy, or faith which was once delivered to the 
saints, was, and is, that God, the Father Al- 
mighty, is the one only, true, self-existent, 
supreme God; — and that Jesus Christ is truly 
the only begotten, beloved Son of God, (or as 
he may be called) God of God, "very God, 
the Son of very God the Father;" and that the 
Holy Ghost, or Holy Spirit, as it should be 
translated, is the Spirit of God the Father, and 
not separately and personally God the third 
person in the Godhead, though it is used to 
signify sometimes God the Father himself, and 
sometimes his influence, or power, or some of 
his attributes. 



88 LECTURE IN SUPPORT OF 

Such, I believe, is the true, evangelical ortho- 
doxy and faith which was once delivered to the 
saints, which was commanded and solemnly 
proclaimed by Gjd himself, taught by Jesus 
Christ, predicted by the prophets, preached by 
the apostles, and believed and held by the early ^ 
Christians and fathers of the church of the 
first centuries. No other orthodoxy or theo- 
logica-1 doctrine was ever known or heard of 
before the fourth or fifth century. I will there- 
fore now introduce the evidence ( which I 
think must be irresistible) to support this 
orthodoxy. 

The first commandment of the Decalogue 
proves the unity of God — ''Thou shalt have no 
other Gods before (besides) meP^ The com- 
mand is not, "■ Thou shalt have no other God 
besides ?m," the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
using the plural number, but it is in the singu- 
lar number. Me — which must mean Me, the 
one only true God, for the true God would 
not give a commandment which should mean 
different or contrary to its express declaration. 

And Christ informs us that (in substance) 
the first of all God's commandments is, ^' Hear, 
Israel, (that is, know, understand, believe it,) 
the Lord our God, the Lord is one!" and (be- 



TRUE, OLD ORTHODOXY. 87 

cause he is that One only) ''Thou shalt love 
the Lord thy God (not Gods) with all thy 
heart, etc." (Whenever the word hear is used 
imperatively in the Bible, it always means 
know, understand, believe.) In these two 
commandments there is not even an intona- 
tion of a tri-personal, or triune God, nor is 
there anywhere in the Bible any evidence of 
such a God. But contrariwise, God himself 
solemnly proclaims of himself, *' I alone am 
God, and there is none else — none besides, none 
with me. — There is no God like me — I am the 
Almighty God!" This he repeatedly proclaimed 
of himself. And it is certain that he who gave 
these commandments and made these proclama- 
tions was God the Father; for Christ, the faith- 
ful and true witness, solemnly announced that 
his Father was the only true God: he never 
said that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost were 
the only true God; he always spoke of God as 
one, and as his God and Farher — always used 
the singular number, and so did the prophets 
and the apostles. And the Apostle Paul ex- 
pressly declared that there is but " one God, 
the Father, and one Lord, Jesus Christ," who 
is the only begotten Son of God, and not the 
self-existent supreme God himself. 



S8 LECTURE IN SUPPORT OF 

And as to the Son, the omniscient God re- 
peatedly, solemnly proclaimed that he was his 
beloved Son, in whom he was well pleased : 
he never revealed that he (the Son) was the, 
or a self-existent, nnoriginated, supreme God; 
therefore it cannot be God^s truth, if God has 
never revealed it. And can men know more 
than God has revealed, or what is contrary to 
his whole revelation ? 

Besides, the Son himself never said, or in 
any way acknowledged, that he was the self- 
existent, supreme God, but denied it; and al- 
ways affirmed that God was his Father — that 
be received his being, and all he possessed, 
from him — ^lived by him, as his only begotten 
Son, his beloved Son in whom he was well 
pleased. 

And as to the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, 
it is evident from Scripture that it means or 
signifies God the Father, or his power or in- 
fluence, and not personally God the third per- 
son in the Godhead, or any person at all. 

But as some persons may place more faith 
in the words and creeds of uninspired men than 
in the declarations of the true God and his Son, 
and the inspired writers of the Bible, I will 
give the evidence and statements of a large 



TRUE, OLD ORTHODOXY. b9 

number of uninspired, though excellent, wise, 
well-instructed, pious men and Christians, and 
fathers of the Church of the first centuries (and 
some after) relating to God the Father Al- 
mighty, and his Son Jesus Christ. Justin 
Martyr, one of the earliest of the Christian 
fathers, a convert to Christianity from the 
Platonic philosophy, supports the sole supre- 
macy and strict unity of God the Father Al- 
mighty, and the subordination to and deriva- 
tion of the Son of God from the Father. He 
says, Christ is Lord of hosts according to the 
will of the Father, whg gave him that power 
and who sent him. *^God in the beginning, 
before anything was created, begat a rational 
power from himself, which is called Glory of 
the Lord, Son, Wisdom, God, Logos, etc., which 
names he bears, because he ministers to the 
will of the Father, and was begotten by the will 
of the Father." 

Irenseus says, our Lord acknowledged one 
Father, and that he is the God over all, the 
one only God, the Creator, who is the Father 
of our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Clemens Alexandrinus says : *' Our Lord 
taught that God the Father only, and alone, is 
supreme over all ; and our Lord being the 
8 



90 LECTURE IN SUPPORT OF 

only teacher of truth, we must be satisfied to 
be informed by him that the Father is above 
all ; for he saith, My Father is greater than 
all." . 

The great and learned Athanasius (but here 
I should state, that the creed commonly called 
the Athanasian creed was not written by him, 
nor published till long after his death) — he 
was truly a great man in his day, and was 
then the head and leader of orthodoxy ; but 
he has written, in commenting on the text, 
*^ Tiiere is one God, and there is none other but 
he," (Mark, xii. 32,)^ — tjiis he says is true, ^' for 
there is one God, and there is none but he. 
And when the Scripture saith that the Father 
is the only God, and there is one God, the first 
and the last, these things are well spoken ; 
for he is the one God, and the first and the 
only one — the true God, who is absolutely and 
strictly such; I mean the Father of Christ." 
And he adds, *' when our Lord affirms, he that 
hath seen me hath seen the Father, he does 
not mean that he himself is the Father, but 
that he is such as the Father is." And he thus 
illustrates it : ^' If a man, after seeing the 
image of the king, should desire to see the 
king himself, the image might say to him, I 



TRUE, OLD ORTHODOXY. 91 

and the king are one, and what you see in me, 
juu see in him.'^ 

Gregory, Bishop of I^eo-Csesarea, snrnamed 
Thaumaturgus, says: "There is one God, the 
Father of the living Word, the Perfect Beget- 
ter of the Perfect Begotten, the Father of the 
only Begotten Son. And there is one Holy 
Spirit, having existence from God." 

The learned Eusebius, an early ecclesiastical 
historian, lays it down as a constant known 
doctrine of the Church, that '' Christ is not the 
God over all — ^but that these are the peculiar 
titles of the Father only." 

Lactantius says : "' Christ was faithful to 
God, for he taught that there is but one God, 
and that he only is to be worshiped ; nor did 
he ever call himself God, because he had not 
been faithful, if, being sent to declare the one 
God, he had introduced any other than that 
one." 

Novatian says : "■ Christ, though he knew 
that he was God (of God,) as having God for 
his Father, yet he never compared himself 
with God the Father, remembering that he 
was from his Father, who gave him to be what 
he was. Hence he never thought of it, so to 
claim divinity as to equal himself with God 



92 LECTURE IN SUPPORT OF 

the Father. Nay, on the contrary, he was 
always obedient to his whole will and plea- 
sure." 

Basil says: "The Supreme God over all has 
alone that singular manner of subsistence by 
which he is the Father, and subsists without 
deriving from any source whatever ; and by 
this character he is peculiarly distinguished, 
as the Son is by the character of only-be- 
gotten." 

Cyril remarks: "When the Father willed 
that all things should be formed, the Son 
formed them, by appointment of the Father, 
that so the original, absolute, supreme power 
might be referred to the Father." 

TertuUian, the learned Bishop of Carthage, 
when commenting on the saying of Christ, " I 
and my Father are one," says: " It means one 
thing, of one mind. One (ev) being in the 
neuter gender, it cannot mean one person, or 
one being, but union and agreement in love 
and design." And again he says : " God was 
not always Father, because he was always 
God; for there was a time when the Son was 
not, who might make the Lord a Father, and 
he would not be a Father before he had a 
Son." 



TRUE, OLD ORTHODOXY. 93 

Epiphanius says : " The Father Almighty 
acts by his own authority; but the Son acts 
not by his own authority, as the Father does, 
but ministerially, after a like manner, as the 
Father.'^ 

The famous and most learned Origen, in his 
day, who wrote much on theology, in the third 
century, said : '' We worship one God, the 
Father ; we worship the Father of the truth, 
and also the Son, who is the truth — they being, 
indeed, two in subsistence ; but in agreement, 
consent, and sameness of will, they are one. 
And all prayer should be made directly to the 
Father, through Jesus Christ his Son." 

The language of the famous decree of the 
Council of Nice in the fourth century, and 
which was then considered orthodox, reads 
thus : ^' We believe in one God, the Father, 
Maker of all things, visible and invisible ; and 
in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, be- 
gotten of the Father, that is, of the substance 
(nature) of the Father, Gjd of God, very Gjd 
of G )d, who for us men, and for our salvation, 
descended, and was incarnate and made man, 
suffered, and on the third day rose again, and 
ascended into heaven, etc. And we believe in 
the Holy Ghost." This creed must be con- 



94 LECTURE IN SUPPORT OF 

sidered orthodox ; for if the Council believed 
in one G-od, the leather, they must be estopped 
from believing in another equal God, the Son, 
and also a third God, the Holy Spirit ; for that 
would make three Gods, and so contradict the 
first article of their decree. 

The creed of the Arians (though Arius was 
condemned as a heretic by a partial Council) 
does not differ but a little from the Nicene 
decree. Thus it reads : ''We believe in one 
God, the Father Almighty, the Creator and 
Maker of all things ; and in his only begotten 
Son our Lord Jesus Christ, begotten of the 
Father before all ages, God of Gods, etc. ; and 
in the Holy Spirit, the Comforter." 

The creed commonly called the Apostles' 
Creed, (though no one knows who was the 
author of it,) is generally received by the 
churches to this day. It is apostolical, and I 
think may be considered orthodox. It is in 
these words : "I believe in one only God, the 
Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth ; 
and in Jesus Christ, his only Son our Lord, 
etc. ; and in the Holy Ghost." 

Marcus Yictorinus says: ''The Father is 
greater than the Son, because he gave all 
things to the Son, and is the cause of the Son^s 



TRUE, OLD ORTHODOXY. 95 

being", and of his being what he is. And this 
doctrine is declared by Justin Martyr, Nova- 
tian, Hilary, Basil, Athanasius, Nazianzen, 
Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria, and others, 
as their writings fully show." 

I might quote much more of a like kind, 
from many early councils, and Christians, and 
fathers of the Church, but I think it not neces- 
sary ; for they all held the views I have taken 
of the true orthodoxy, or faith, which was once 
delivered to the saints. I can find among 
them no declaration, not even a suggestion of 
a tri-personal or triune God ; or that Jesus 
Christ, the Son of God, or God of God, was a 
self-existent, supreme God ; or that the Holy 
Spirit, the Spirit of God the Father, was sepa- 
rately and personally God, the third person in 
the Godhead, or any person at all, as it could 
not be, for it is of the neuter gender (Pneuma 
to Agion,) which, I believe, was never rightly 
applied to any real, living person, in heaven or 
earth. 

And should not some credit be given to the 
early Christians and fathers of the church in 
the first centuries ? Is it not to be presumed 
that the truth would be better known, and 
more perfectly'- declared, by those who lived 



96 LECTURE IN SUPPORT OF 

immediately after the Apostles, than by those 
who came into being a thousand or more years 
after ? I will suppose there is a great, inex- 
haustible fountain of pure, sweet water, from 
which a stream flows a thousand or more miles 
through much impure, adulterated matter on 
the shores frequently falling into the stream. 
Now, if you desire to obtain pure, sweet, 
drinkable water, would 3^ou seek to get it by 
following up the stream to near the great 
sweet fountain, or would you go down the 
stream a thousand miles or more, and seek it 
where it may have become impure, base and 
adulterated ? 

But as there may be^ good, pure water at 
some distance from the fountain, I will quote 
something from pious, learned Christians who 
lived some time since the fourth century. The 
Word of God may be considered as the great 
spiritual fountain of all pure, holy, spiritual 
water; and all true Christians, as streams is- 
suing therefrom. I Avill therefore notice some 
of the issues of some of those pious streams. 

Bishop Pearson, who has been highly es- 
teemed, on account of his able treatise on the 
Creed, says: "There is but one person who is 
from none. And the generation of the Son, and 



TRUE, OLD ORTHODOXY. 91 

the procession of the Holy Ghost, undeniably 
prove that neither of those two can be that 
person. It followeth, therefore, that this per- 
son must be the Father. From hence he is 
styled the one God, the true God, the only true 
God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ. There can be but one person, original- 
ly of himself subsisting; because if there were 
more persons thus subsisting, it would neces- 
sarily imply a plurality of Gods. Jesus Christ, 
who certainly is not the Father, cannot be a 
person subsisting of himself." Further the 
Bishop says: ^'The Father is greater than the 
Son, in reference to the communications of the 
Godhead. I know him, saith Christ, for I am 
from him. And because he is from the Father 
he is called by those of the Nicene Council, God 
of God, very God of very God. The Father is 
God, but not God of God, or from God, but the 
Son is God of God, or from God. The Father 
is the only Potentate, because He alone hath 
all power of himself." 

The highly esteemed Bishop Bull^ays: ''The 
assertion of the Son's surbordination to the Fa- 
ther is particularly to be heeded, on account, 
that some modern writers have earnestly con- 
tended that the Son may, properly, be styled 



98 LECTURE IN SUPPORT OF 

God of himself, which opinion is both contrary 
to their own hypothesis, who maintain it, and 
to the catholic doctrine. He, the Father, is de- 
rived from no original, is subject to none, and 
can no more be said to be sent (as the Son is) 
than to be begotten — which things denote some 
superiority of the Father over the Son. The 
Son in all divine operations is the minister of 
the Father, forasmuch as he derives his ope- 
rating powers from God the Father, and the 
Father operates by him; and on the contrary, 
the Son does not operate by or through the 
Father.'^ 

The learned Mr. Mede says: '^To us (Chris- 
tians) there is but one sovereign God, the Fa- 
ther, of whom are all things, and to whom as 
supreme, we are directed to offer all our ser- 
vices; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are 
all things which come from the Father to tis, 
and through whom alone we find access to 
him." 

The excellent Dr. Payne says: *'The Father 
is the only self-existent, unoriginated Being, 
whom the Scriptures, creeds, and Christian of- 
fices, call God, absolutel}^, and by way of emi- 
nence and prerogative. The Son is produced 
of the Father, and so is not (orto Theos) God 



TRUE, OLD ORTHODOXY. 99 

of himself, in that sense that the Father is, 
who is from none; but God, as it signifies a 
self-existent, unoriginated Being, is predicated 
only of the Father." 

I have exhibited but a small part of the evi- 
dence that might be offered in support of true 
orthodoxy, or the faith that was once delivered 
to the saints. But is not what I have adduced 
amply suf&cient to prove, beyond a doubt, that 
God, the Father, is the only true, self-existent, 
supreme God ? Did not God himself give com- 
mandment to that effect? — ''Tliou shalt have 
no other Gods before (besides) rmP 

And again, ^'Hear, Israel, the Lord our 
God, the Lord is oniP And did he not solemn- 
ly proclaim of himself — ''I alo;ie am God, and 
there is none besides me." And that it was 
God, the Father, who gave these command- 
ments and made these proclamations, is cer- 
tain, because Jesus Christ, the faithful and true 
witness, has devoutly declared that his Father 
is the only true God; and the inspired Apostle 
Paul has asserted, "that there is but ont God, 
the Father ^^^ and all the Christians and fathers 
of the church of the first centuries held the 
same doctrine. And will Christians now at- 
tempt to establish a different doctrine, or one 
directly contrary to what God has revealed, or 



100 LECTURE IN SUPPORT OP 

what Christ and his Apostles have clearlj 
taught ? Or can we believe that the all-wise, 
only true God has not revealed all that is ne- 
cessary for men to know ? or that he has not 
fully declared the truth, the whole truth, and 
nothing but the truth ? And is it not enough 
for us to know and believe all that God has ex- 
pressly revealed, and what Christ and his Apos- 
tles have plainly taught ? 

And with regard .to the Son of God, is it not 
clearly proved that Jesus Christ is the only 
begotten, beloved Son of God, the Father, or 
God, the Son, or God of God ? He said of him- 
self that he was from the Father, and lived by 
the Father ; so he could not be self-existent 
and ever-living; because, not two thousand 
years ago he died on the cross. But he must 
be, what God has solemnly declared him to be, 
in the highest sense of the term, "the Son of 
God — the only, the beloved Son of God — the 
brightness of his Father's glory, the express 
image of his person,^' the perfection of his ho- 
liness, and the Saviour of the world I And is 
not all this enough to constitute him " worthy 
to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and 
strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing, 
for ever and ever ?" 

Now, if Christ is truly the Son of God, he 



TRUE, OLD ORTHODOXY. 101 

may well be called God — God the Son or God 
of God (but not the self-existent, supreme God,) 
for every son is entitled to the name of his fa- 
ther; and God himself has called him God, as 
in Heb. i. 8, ''and to the Son he saith, Thy 
throne, God, is for ever and ever/' And this 
inheritance of a name is recognised to Christ 
in the Bible, for we read that by inheritance 
he hath obtained a more excellent name than 
the angels — a name above every name, and 
this name must have been the Son of God, or 
God the Son, or God of God, which is surely 
above every name. 

And this view of the Son of God will remove 
all difficulty in understanding and reconciling 
some texts of Scripture (and there are but few) 
in which the Son is called God. For by sup- 
plying two words, the Son, or of God^ after God 
in the text, all difficulty will be removed, and 
the text will harmonize with the whole of the 
word of God. And all translators of the Bible 
have found it necessary, and thought it right, 
to supply some words to make some texts plain 
and intelligible, and consistent with other parts 
of Scripture; and I see no reason why we may 
not do likewise, where the necessity fully ap- 
pears. Let us look at some texts in point. 
9 



102 LECTURE IN SUPPORT OF 

We read in the 1st chapter of Heb. at the 8th 
verse, *'and to the Son, he (the Father) saith, 
Thy throne, God, is for ever and ever," etc. 
(I do not agree to the translation made by 
some, God is thy throne.) This '' God" can- 
not mean the supreme God, the Father, whom 
the Son always called his God, because it is ad- 
dressed by the Father to the Son, and because 
in the next verse it is said, ''God, even thy 
God, hath anointed thee above thy fellows," 
etc. Therefore the person anointed could not 
be the supreme God, for the supreme God 
never was or could be anointed, and never had 
fellows or equals ; but it was the supreme God 
who anointed his Son, God of God. Therefore 
by supplying the words, of God, the text will 
harmonize with the whole word of God; and it 
may be thus understood, " and to the Son, God 
said, Thy throne, God, my Son^ on which I 
have established thee, is for ever and ever." 

Again: see Acts, xx. 28: "Feed the church 
of God, which he hath purchased with his own 
blood." This God cannot be the ever-living, 
purely spiritual God, who had no blood to shed, 
and cannot suffer or die, to purchase the church, 
but it must mean God (the Son supplied) who 
truly purchased the church by his own blood, 
or by his sufferings and death. 



TRUE, OLD ORTHODOXY. 103 

Again: see the 9th chapter of Isaiah, where 
it is prophesied, that *' to us is (will be) born a 
child, and his name shall be called (among other 
names) the mighty God !" But this child born 
could not be the self-existent, supreme God, for 
he never was and never can be born, or caused 
to exist, at any time, for he existed, without 
cause, from all eternity. Besides, he was not to 
be called the Almighty Gcd, but only the mighty 
God. And there is a vast difference between 
mighty and Almighty God, I believe that the 
word almighty is not applied in the Bible to 
any being in heaven or earth, but to God, the 
Father Almighty only, who declared of him- 
self—'' I am the Almighty God !" Who, then, 
is this mighty God ? It must be God the Son 
of Almighty God, who declared ''that all pow- 
er in heaven and earth was given him of his 
Father," which surely would make him a mighty 
God. And hence the seeming inconsistency of 
a child born and a mighty God in the same per- 
son, is reconciled by supplying after mighty 
God, the Son, or of God — reading, the mighty 
God, the Son, or God of God. The Son, or God 
of God, is truly a mighty God, but he is not 
the Almighty, supreme God — he is nowhere in 
the Bible claimed so to be — he is nowhere call- 
ed the Almighty God I 



104 LECTURE IN SUPPORT OF 

I need not refer to more texts of this kind : 
they may all be made plain and easy to be un- 
derstood, and reconciled in harmony with every 
part of the Bible, by supplying after God, the 
Son, or of God, reading God the Son or God of 
God. 

And as to the Holy Spirit, is it not fully evi- 
dent that by the Holy Spirit is meant the Spi- 
rit of God the Father ? He repeatedly calls it 
" my Spirit." He never calls it a personal God, 
or the third person of God. But in some sense 
it signifies God the Father ; as the spirit or 
soul of man is considered as the man himself, 
so the spirit of God may be considered as God 
himself. Though it is often used to signify his 
power, or influence, or one of his attributes, as 
where we read of God^s giving, sending, pour- 
ing out, or in any way communicating his Holy 
Spirit, it must mean his power, or love, or some 
of his attributes; it cannot be separately, per- 
sonally, God, or the third person of God. In- 
deed, the third person in the Godhead is nowhere 
even mentioned in the Holy Scriptures — it must 
be an invention of uninspired men ; it cannot 
be that person, or any person at all, for it is in 
the neuter gender, as I have stated, which is 
not applicable to any real, living person. Many 



TRUE, OLD ORTHODOXY. 105 

of the Gods of the heathen are in the neuter 
gender, but I did not suppose that any Chris- 
tian's God was of that gender. We, Christians, 
do not worship stocks and stones, or golden 
images, such as Nebuchadnezzar the king set 
up, but we worship the one supreme, spiritual 
Being; and, in a secondary sense, we honor or 
worship his Son, as God the Son, or God of 
God, but not as the self-existent God. And the 
angels are required to do the same, for *^ when 
he bringeth in his first begotten Son into the 
world," he saith, *' Let all the angels of God 
worship him," — worship him as the first begot- 
ten Son of God, or God of God, and not as su- 
preme God. Besides, we are nowhere in th^ 
Bible commanded or directed to thank, love, or 
worship the Holy Spirit {eo nomine) as God, or 
the third person of Deity, because it is not a 
person capable of receiving thanks, love, or 
worship. For all the thanks, love, and worship 
on account of the Holy Spirit are due (and much 
is due) to God the Father, the possessor of his 
own Holy Spirit, and who, of his infinite love, 
is willing to bestow much of it upon his sinful, 
undeserving creatures. 

If a parent makes a valuable present to his 
child, the child should not thank the present but 
9* 



106 LECTURE IN SUPPORT OF 

the parent, for his goodness in giving it; so, if 
our heavenly Father, of his infinite love, is 
pleased to communicate to us his Holy Spirit, 
we are not to thank the Spirit for being given, 
but the Father for his great benevolence in be- 
stowing such an inestimable gift upon his un- 
worthy children. 

Christ said, the works he did were not his 
own, but the Father's who sent him. And the 
Holy Spirit is sometimes called the breath of 
God. And we find that just before Christ as- 
cended into heaven, he breathed on his disci- 
ples, and said, ''Receive ye the Holy Ghost, the 
spirit of God," the love and blessing of the 
Father; and this was a work of God, commit- 
ted to the Son to do. And it was one of the 
last and most precious works which Christ ever 
performed on earth; and full proof that the Spi- 
rit of God cannot be a personal, supreme God, 
or the third person in the Godhead; for Christ 
could not have breathed on his disciples a per- 
sonal, supreme God, but only the spirit or 
love of God the Father. 

And if we go back to the beginning, when 
God created the heavens and the earth, we are 
informed, that ''the Spirit of God moved upon 
the face of the waters.^' But, it does not seem 



TRUE, OLD ORTHODOXY. lOT 

probable that this was a distinct, personal, su- 
preme God, or third person of God; but it must 
have been the power or wisdom of God tliat 
controled the waters, and caused them to be 
*' gathered together into one place/' 

I may have introduced sufficient evidence 
and arguments to support fully the true ortho- " 
doxy, or faith, which was once delivered to the 
saints; but I wish to offer briefly another kind 
of testimony, which I call negative proof, or 
proof of a negative. 

The want, non-production, and non-existence 
of all competent evidence to prove and support 
an affirmative proposition is satisfactory proof 
of the negative; for an affirmation must be 
proved, beyond all reasonable doubt, by com- 
petent evidence, or it cannot be credited, but 
the negative of it must stand, and be consider- 
ed as supported. This is the law of all evidence, 
divine and human. 

Now let us apply this law. I v/ill first sup- 
pose a secular case ; I will suppose that we 
have just received telegraphic information that 
General Washington, in his lifetime, had a 
highly esteemed son. But we don^t believe it. 
And how shall we disprove it, or prove the 
negative? It will be enough, it will be amply 



108 LECTURE IN SUPPORT OF 

euflScient, if we show that there is no evidence 
in existence to support the affirmative informa- 
tion — that there is no history or biography of 
Washington, and no testimony of any kind, 
private or public, to be found, that mentions, 
or even hints, that General Washington ever 
had such a son, or any son at all; and this 
would fully prove that he never had a son. 
Because if the affirmative were true, it would 
seem moralty impossible that there should be 
no evidence to support it. 

But I will state three other real cases of a 
higher and more serious nature: — First, it has 
been seriously affirmed that the one only true 
God is three^ or tri-personal, or that he some- 
how, inconceivably, subsists in three persons. 
The second affirmation is, that the Son of God 
is the self-existent, supreme God. The third 
affirmation is, that the Holy Ghost, or Holy 
Spirit, is, separately, personally, the supreme 
God, and the third person of God. 

Now let us search diligently, faithfully, and 
see if we can find any evidence to support either 
of these affirmations. And where must we 
look to find it, if it can be found ? To the Bible, 
certainly, all will allow: if it cannot be found 
there, it cannot be found anywhere; for that is 



TRUE, OLD ORTHODOXY. 109 

the fountain of all truth on the subject. And 
what said the Holy Scriptures about a tri-per- 
Bonal God, or of three persons of God ? Not 
one word can be found in that holy book, that 
full, perfect revelation of the omniscient God! 
Such ideas are not even suggested in the 
whole of the Scriptures, from the beginning 
to the end. 

And as to the second affirmation — that the 
Son of God is the self-existent, supreme God, 
there is no evidence in the Bible to support it; 
not a word can there be found expressly to 
prove it. Of course, nothing anywhere can be 
found that will support this affirmation. 

So, also, as to the third affirmation, that the 
Holy Spirit is separately, personally, the su- 
preme God and third person of God, there is 
no evidence in the Bible that expressly proves 
it. Therefore the negative is sustained. 

We therefore find that all and each of these 
three affirmations are unsupported by any 
affirmative, existing testimony, and of course 
disproved by even no testimony, by the absence 
of all testimony to sustain them, and this we 
call testimony which proves the negative. But 
we need not rely upon this kind of proof only, 
for the Bible is full of positive evidence to 



110 LECTURE IN SUPPORT OF 

prove the negative, so far as a negative can 
be proved. The omniscient God has very posi- 
tively declared that he alone is God, and that 
there is none beside him, and none like him; 
and that Jesus Christ is his only, belovedk Son, 
and therefore cannot be that God whose Son 
he is; and that the Holy Spirit is his own 
Spirit, which he sends, gives, and communi- 
cates, according to his own will and pleasure, 
and BO cannot be personally an independent 
God, or third person of God. We have there- 
fore double proof, negative and positive, against 
the truth of these affirmations, and of course 
in favor and support of the true orthodoxy and 
faith which was once delivered to the saints. 
But I will digress for a moment to state a 
serious and solemn case. I will suppose — for 
it is not impious to imagine what may take 
place on a great occasion in another, more 
glorious, perfect world, where there will be no 
mistake, or error, or controversy — I will sup- 
pose, at the great day of judgment, a sincere, 
devout Christian comes up to the bar of the 
Judge of all the earth, and humbly addresses 
the Judge, as the self-existent, supreme God. 
And what may we presume will be the reply 
of the Judge ? Prom what he taught, while on 



TRUE, OLD ORTHODOXY. Ill 

earth, we may believe he will in a most affec- 
tionate manner say to him: '' My dear, beloved 
disciple, you are mistaken: you have honestly, 
unintentionally obtained wrong views oi me 
and my Father, for I am not the self-existent, 
supreme God. I never so taught while I was 
on earth ; but I always declared that my Father 
was greater than I, and that he was the only 
true, supreme God, and that I was no more 
than his only beloved Son, deriving my being, 
and all that I was, and all my powers, from 
him — that I could do nothing of myself, but 
that he had given me all power in heaven and 
earth, and by him I was made the brightness 
of his glory and the express image of his per- 
son. And this great truth of my sonship I 
maintained before all the people, before Jews 
and Gentiles, Scribes and Pharisees, and doc- 
' tors of the law, and, at the known peril of my 
life, before Pontius Pilate. And for my adhe- 
rence to this great truth I was most unjustly, 
cruelly, scourged, spit upon, crowned with 
thorns, nailed to the cross and crucified I But 
my Father justified me and glorified me — raised 
me from the tomb, and triumphantly exalted 
me at his own right hand, on the throne of 
his glory. And as the Son of God, and by the 



m 

112 LECTURE IN SUPPORT OF 

power and will of my Father, I now here live 
and reign, and am appointed the final Judge of 
all the earth. And now, my beloved disciples, 
I, your Judge, do not condemn you for your 
unintentional errors and mistaken views. I 
freely forgive you. I condemn none for mere 
errors of opinion. All whose hearts are right 
with God, and who have true, cordial faith in 
me and in the grace of God, I, with joy and 
love, receive and admit into my glorious king- 
dom, which my Father hath given me for an 
everlasting kingdom, where they may enjoy 
unspeakable happiness and glory with me for 
ever and everl^' 

But to return, and to conclude, I ask seri- 
ously, have we not fully demonstrated, by the 
word of God himself, who " cannot lie ^' or de- 
ceive, and by the testimony of Jesus Christ, 
the faithful and true Witness, and by the de- 
claration of the inspired Apostle Paul, that the 
three affirmations aforesaid, (viz.) that God 
Almighty is a tri-personal God, and that his 
Son is self-existent and supreme God — and the 
Holy Spirit (the Spirit of God) is separately, 
personally, God, the third person of God, can- 
not be true ; neither of them can be true if the 
Word of God is true, and if the testimony of 



TRUE, OLD ORTHODOXY. 113 

the Son of God, the faithful and true Witness, 
and of the inspired Apostle Paul, is true ? 
(and who will dare to attempt to invalidate 
or impeach such divine testimony ?) But it 
must follow that the opposite doctrine, which 
we call the true orthodoxy and faith, is strictly 
true, and well supported by the highest pos- 
sible divine testimony, which cannot be invali- 
dated or impeached ; and has been adopted 
and held by all the early Christians and fathers 
of the church of the first centuries, and by a 
great many of the most pious and learned 
men and orthodox Christians to this day. And 
I would to God that all his intelligent crea- 
tures on earth might receive and believe in 
this true orthodoxy, and be all united, and be 
one in Christ, in heart and soul, in mind and 
deed, and all be willing, in love and good fel- 
lowship, to go to heaven together ; and not 
with bitterness and controversy, in sectarian 
divisions. 

Now, if it is possible that there may be 
some persons who are not willing to take the 
Holy Scriptures for the sole guide and director 
of their faith and practice, I will refer them to 
the laws of nature, reason and common sense, 
which I will call attributes of men and in* 
10 



114 LECTURE IN SUPPORT OF 

estimable gifts of God, and are useful to direct 
men in the right way ; and to some extent 
they are as truly instruments of God's reve- 
lation as his holy Word, though not so full 
and perfect; but what they do truly teach 
should be received, and must harmonize with 
the Word of God ; for God cannot reveal any- 
thing in one way, or by one instrument, and 
contradict it in another, '' for all his ways are 
perfect and harmonious." Now, what do these 
attributes teach, or tell us ? or, what do they 
not teach? 

Have nature, reason and common sense, 
ever discovered or informed us that there was 
any one being in heaven or earth that was 
three persons, or that had two natures ? No. 
They teach that every living intelligent per- 
son or being, is, strictly, a unit, one person, 
and can have but one nature. Do nature, 
reason and common sense teach that the only 
true God and his Spirit are two separate, 
distinct persons, and equal supreme Gods — 
or that the one only God can be a first and a 
third person of God ? Or do they teach that 
the Son of God can be that God whose Son he 
is, or that any Son can be his own father ? 
No. They teach no such thing. What then 



TRUE, OLD ORTHODOXY. 115 

do they teach ? They teach one supreme God 
in one person — they teach one truly Son of 
God, with one nature only — teach one Holy 
Spirit of God, not a third personal God — they 
teach all that the Word of God has revealed, 
though not so full and perfect — they teach 
all that the true orthodox faith claims to 
hold. It is true, they may be corrupted or 
perverted ; but if they are not, they are as 
truly the instruments of God for good, and for 
our guidance, as the Bible is, though not so 
high, holy, and perfect. Their true and proper 
office is to harmonize with and support the 
Bible, and not to invalidate, control, or con- 
tradict it. 

Believing, therefore, as I do, that the true 
orthodox faith is fully established by the word 
of God, and the dictates of nature, reason, and 
common sense, I must, while I live, support 
and maintain it as much as in my power. But 
I do not suppose that this treatise will meet 
the full, entire views of the present ortho- 
doxy, so called, or of any of the prevailing 
denominations of Christians; yet I truly believe 
that it is fully and exactly the true, old, apos- 
tolic orthodoxy, and the only orthodoxy, or 
theological truth, that was ever known or re- 



116 LECTURE IN SUPPORT OF, ETC. 

ceived, anywhere, before the fourth century; and 
it is, also, substantially in perfect agreement 
with true, evangelical unitarianism — there is 
no difference, except in the use of a few non- 
essential words. And I do, also, seriously 
believe, that if our brethren of the present 
orthodoxy would come back to their old apos- 
tolic Orthodoxy, all other Christians of all de- 
nominations would cheerfully, charitably come 
up to them, and harmoniously unite with them 
in establishing one only church of God upon 
earth — as there is, and ever will be, but one in 
heaven! And so may heaven commence here! 
0, roll on, such a blessed day! 



DISCOURSE ON JOB. 



Of all the ancient sacred writings, the Book 
of Job is one of the most interesting, instruct- 
ive, learned, godly, sublime productions of 
the Old Testament. But many believe that it 
is not founded upon facts, or real history or 
biography, but is only an allegory ; and I 
will give some of their reasons for this belief, 
without giving any opinion of my own. 

In the first place, they say it does not appear 
natural, or probable, that God would have 
suffered Satan, his greatest enemy, whom he 
had, for his rebellion, as we are told, cast out 
of heaven down to hell, and there, (as Milton 
represents,) *' chained on the burning lake, 
to remain unreprieved, unpitied, ages of hope- 
less end." It does not, they say, appear 
probable, if possible, that God would have 
permitted the vilest rebel to break his chains 
and re-ascend to heaven, and unite himself 
with the sons of God, and with them to pre- 
sent himself before the -Lord ; or that the 
sons of God would meet with him ; or that 
10* 



118 DISCOURSE ON JOB. 

the great Jehovah would condescend to hold 
a familiar conversation with the vilest con- 
demned rebel, (as represented,) and suffer 
him, in the most cruel manner, and unlimit- 
edly, (except that he should spare the life of 
Job,) to afflict and torment his servant Job, 
*' a perfect and upright man, one who feared 
God and eschewed evil.'' It does not seem 
consistent with the just and merciful character 
of God, that a perfect and upright man should 
be cruelly afflicted and tormented at the insti- 
gation of the devil, or that God could be 
tempted by Satan to destroy, temporarily, the 
perfect Job without cause. 

Again : it is said that it does not seem 
probable that even the most impudent Satan 
would have dared, if he could, to come up and 
join the sons of God, and present himself be- 
fore that Almighty Lord who had justly cast 
him out of heaven down to hell, and that he 
should presume to reason with that Sovereign 
Lord, and charge him with partiality towards 
his upright servant Job, and should undertake 
to teach him how he should deal with Job to 
discover his hypocrisy. 

And it is said that there is no account or 
revelation of any such meeting of the sons of 



DISCOURSE ON JOB. 119 

God and Satan to present themselves before 
the Lord, except what is in the Book of Job. 
Furthermore, it is said we have no history or 
biography in any other part of the Bible of Job 
or his three friends, or the learned young Elihu. 
And if there ever had been, in any part of the 
world, at any time, such remarkable, learned, 
godly men, as they are in this book repre- 
sented to be, there must have been some his- 
tor}^, biography or revelation of them given 
in some sacred or profane history. And as we 
have in the historical part of the Bible full 
characters, connections and biographies given 
of Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, 
Moses, David, Solomon, and other distin- 
guished men of old, and can find no biogra- 
phy, nothing of Job or of his supposed three 
friends, or Elihu, it may be fairly presumed 
that no such real persons ever lived ; and that 
the whole Book of Job is but an allegory — 
an inspired, God-giveu allegory, it must be — 
but not the less valuable or instructive on 
that account. Our blessed Saviour^s parables, 
or allegories, were not perhaps generally 
founded upon facts, or real history or biogra- 
phy; but they were more interesting, valuable, 
useful and convincing, than any other instruc- 



120 DISCOURSE ON JOB. 

tions and teaching ever given at that day — 
they were indeed the words of God, delivered 
by his beloved Son, who said that the words 
he spoke were not his own, but his Father^s, 
who sent him. So, if the words of the Book 
of Job were written by divine inspiration, they 
must be the words of God. And without 
dwelling upon doubtful or non-essential points, 
I do fully believe that the Book of Job is an 
inspired book, agreeable to the will of God ; 
and that it may be made ^'profitable for doc- 
trine, for reproof, for correction, for instruc- 
tion in righteousness ; " and that the character 
of Job is highly worthy of imitation. 

But who was the writer of this valuable 
book is not known, and cannot How be known. 
I think it could not have been the extempora- 
neous production of the persons therein named, 
but must have been a work, a poem it seems 
to be, of much thought, deliberation, and deep 
study. Some have conjectured that Job him- 
self was the sole author ; but I think this is 
doubtful, as we have no evidence to prove it. 
Some have thought that one of the three 
friends, or Elihu, was the writer ; but this, for 
the same reason, may be doubted. Some have 
also conjectured that Jeremiah was the writer; 



DISCOURSE ON JOB. 131 

but this I doubt, because I believe it was 
written before Jeremiah^s day. So I will now 
make my own conjecture, which is, that it was 
written by Moses when he was feeding the 
flocks of Jethro, and had ample time for medita- 
tion and contemplation, and when it seems God 
was with him. And we have no account of 
any man in ancient times so able, and so likely 
to be the author, as Moses, for he was taught 
in all the science of Egypt, and, moreover, was 
taught and inspired of God, and was one of 
the most important servants God ever had in 
the world, excepting only his beloved Son. I 
think, therefore, that it is very probable that 
Moses was the writer of the Book of Job. 

But it is no matter to us who was the writer 
of that book, so long as we believe that it is 
of Divine inspiration and properly ingrafted 
into the Bible, which is truly, substantially, 
the Word of God. 

I will therefore waive all alleg^orical discus- 
sion, and, for the purpose of instruction and 
improvement, consider Job, and his three friends 
and Elihu, as real godly, learned persons who 
lived about the time of Abraham; at least (as 
I conclude from the number of years of his life) 
after Noah and before Moses. And I will en- 



122 DISCOURSE ON JOB. 

deavor to make some useful remarks and 
reflections upon the words of our text, and some 
other matters and things referred to in this 
book, and in particular as to the character and 
example of Job. Job says in our text: '' When 
the ear heard me, then it blessed me; and when 
the eye saw me, then it gave witness to me.^' 
These words were spoken by Job in the midst 
of his sore affliction and distress; when the 
hand of God had touched him; when his sub- 
stance had been destroyed ; when the provi- 
dence of God had removed from him all the 
comforts and enjoyments of life: but they were 
spoken of him in reference to the time when 
he was in a high state of prosperity and happi- 
ness; when God preserved him and blessed 
him; when his candle shined upon him; when, 
by his light, he walked through darkness; 
when the Almighty was yet with him; when 
the blessing of him that was ready to perish 
came upon him; w^hen his children were about 
him; when he was respected and praised by all 
his acquaintance; when the young men, when 
they saw him, hid themselves, the old men 
arose and stood up, the princes refrained talk- 
ing, and the nobles held their peace; when his 
substance was very great, and he was con- 



DISCOURSE ON JOB. 123 

sidered the greatest of all the men of the East; 
and when God had declared that there was 
none like him in all the earth, a perfect and 
upright man, one that feared God, and eschewed 
evil. In reference to this happy period of Job's 
life, he said, ''When the ear heard me, then it 
blessed me; and when the eye saw me, then it 
gave witness to me ;" smiled upon me, and 
gave comfort and joy to my soul. And why 
was it so ? what was the cause thereof ? Job 
tells us: It was *' because I delivered the poor 
that cried, and the fatherless, and him that had 
none to help him — because I caused the widow's 
heart to sing for joy. It was because I put 
on righteousness, and it clothed me, my judg- 
ment being as a robe and a diadem — because 
I was eyes to the blind and feet to the lame — 
because I was a father to the poor — because I 
wept for him that was in trouble, and my soul 
was grieved for the poor — because I brake the 
jaws of the wicked, and plucked the spoils out 
of his teeth — and because God had made me a 
just and perfect man, and caused me to fear 
him and eschew evil." 

Such were some of the causes that produced 
the blessed effects of love, esteem and praise 
towards Job, and added, undoubtedly, to his 



124 DISCOURSE ON JOB. 

happiness. And may we not believe, may we 
not calculate with certainty, that the same 
causes, if existing, will produce similar effects, 
in all ages, upon all good men ? 

Let us then endeavor to turn this subject to 
our own benefit and improvement. Let us in- 
quire if there are not objects now in existence 
that may produce similar effects to those re- 
ferred to. ^^Come, let us reason together." 
If we deliver the poor that cry, and the father- 
less, and him that hath none to help him; if 
we, as much as in our power, deliver them 
from their oppressors, relieve them of their 
burdens, supply their wants, heal their sick- 
nesses, give them needed coi^solation, and teach 
them, at all times, under all circumstances, 
resignation, and the practice of all moral and 
religious duties — will not their ears, their 
whole souls bless us ? Will not their eyes 
speak their love and gratitude ? And will not 
the ears and eyes of all who hear or see of our 
kind deeds bless us, and smile with approba- 
tion upon us ? And shall we not meet the 
acceptance of him who is the Almighty Father 
of the fatherless, and the Friend of the destitute 
and afflicted? And shall we not make the 
objects of our kindness happy, and, in conse 
quence, enjoy the same blessing ourselves ? 



DISCOURSE ON JOB. 125 

•And if we (figuratively speaking) cause the 
widow^s heart to sing for joy — if we visit, con- 
sole and comfort them in their afflictions and 
bereavements, provide for their comfort, con- 
venience and happiness — shall we not receive 
their blessing, and the approbation of him who 
is the widow's God and Judge ? 

Again: if we put on righteousness — if we are 
truly righteous in deed as well as in profes- 
sion, so that it may be said that our works of 
righteousness clothe us as a beautiful robe and 
a diadem — may we not expect that all good 
men will praise and bless us, and that the 
righteous Judge of all the earth will amply 
reward us ? 

Again: if we make ourselves, as it were, a 
substitute of eyes to the blind and of feet to 
the lame — if we become guides to those who 
are deprived of the blessed light of the sun, 
afford them all the aid and assistance, and give 
them all the knowledge in our power, and dis- 
play before the eyes of their minds the light of 
the glorious Gospel of Christ — and if to the lame 
we administer relief, lead them in the path of 
truth and righteousness — may we not expect 
to receive their blessing ? And shall we not 
be imitators of our blessed Saviour, who went 
11 



126 DISCOURSE ON JOB. 

about doing good, giving sight to the blind 
and soundness to the U^me ? And have we not 
a promise, that in no such case shall we lose 
our reward? Again: if, like Job, we are a 
father to the poor, if we provide for their ne- 
cessities and comfort, if we show them kindness 
and pity, we may expect not only their bless- 
ing, but also a blessing from our compassionate 
Father in heaven; for we read in the sacred 
volume, ^' He that giveth his bread to the poor 
shall be blessed — he lendeth to the Lord, and 
that which he hath given, will he (the Lord) 
pay him again." 

The character given of Job in his early pros- 
perity is worthy of all imitation. He is repre- 
sented to be possessed of great wealth; but he 
considered it all as the gift of God, or rather 
as a loan, which God had a right to take away 
whenever he pleased. And notwithstanding 
his immense worldly possessions. Job seemed 
not to put his trust in uncertain riches, but in 
the living God, who giveth all things richly to 
enjo}^, and which made him thankful and de- 
voted to the service of God, and to the worship 
of him supremely; to become himself perfect 
and upright, and to fear God and eschew evil. 
He also looked well to the ways of his house- 



DISCOURSE ON JOB. 127 

hold, to their moral and godly character — he 
made supplications continually, and offered sa- 
crifices to God for his sons, fearing that they 
might have committed sins; and he made a 
good and benevolent use of the wealth which 
God had loaned him. He delivered and pro- 
vided for the poor that cried and were in want 
— he fed the hungry and clothed the naked; 
he supplied the fatherless, and helped those that 
had none to help them but were ready to perish ; 
by liberal provision he made the widow^s heart 
to sing for joy ; he provided for the blind and lame ; 
he was like a father to the poor; he prevented 
the wicked from injuring the righteous; he was 
kind and provident to all in distress or want; 
he put on righteousness, and it clothed him — 
his judgment was to him as a robe and a dia- 
dem; and he did extensive good to his fellow- 
creatures. And above all, he was an approved 
servant of God, and by him pronounced to be 
a perfect and upright man, who feared God and 
eschewed evil. 

And where upon earth can be found an ob- 
ject more interesting, more noble, more excel- 
lent, more praiseworthy, than a very rich man 
who is perfect and upright, who feareth God 
and escheweth evil, worships him supremely, 



128 DISCOURSE ON JOB. 

praises and extols him continually; who, not- 
withstanding his great worldly possessions, 
puts not his trust in uncertain riches, but in 
the living God, who giveth all things richly to 
enjoy; who uses his riches for the glory of God 
and the good of mankind, feeds the hungry, 
clothes the naked, supplies the wants of the 
poor and destitute, provides for the fatherless 
and widows in their afflictions, and does good 
to all according to their need ; who believes 
that to whom God has given much, of them he 
will require much ; who believes that it is his 
duty to use the wealth which God has given 
him, not only for his glory, but also for the good 
of his felloAV-men; and that such was the de- 
sign and will of God in the bestowment of 
riches, and that he must render an account of 
how he has used the riches which God has given 
him. Such a person may well be considered a 
true disciple of Christ, wlio, though he appear- 
ed on earth to be in poverty, yet was immense- 
ly rich; for he had all power in heaven and 
earth given him of his Father; he possessed 
the everlasting riches of heaven, and was inte- 
rested in the throne of God, being there seat- 
ed at the right hand of his Almighty Father I 
Would to God that all the rich men and wo- 



DISCOURSE ON JOB. 129 

men of our day and generation were such as I 
have described — were like what the godly Job 
is represented to have been. Such men and 
women, all united, might produce a great and 
wonderful change and happy revolution in the 
world. They might cause the wants and all 
the reasonable desires of all, of every intelli- 
gent creature on earth to be fully supplied; for 
God in his infinite wisdom and goodness has 
created substance, wealth, and riches enough 
to supply all the wants of his creatures, if they 
will but make a right, just, and good use and 
distribution thereof. The all-wise, all-good God 
never could create or cause to be more crea- 
tures than he hath provided means for their 
support, if the}^ will use the means, and per- 
form the labor, skill and industry which God 
and nature require of them. Then what a 
world this would be ! No — it would not be 
this world; but it would be this cnce sinful 
world changed into a happy, blessed heaven 
on earth ! and all the inhabitants thereof 
would become like the angels of God ! What 
encouragement, therefore, there is for rich 
men and women to be and do what they ought 
to be and do, and what God designed them 
for, for their good and his glory. 
11* 



130 DISCOURSE ON JOB. 

Another important, imitable trait in Job's 
character is his patience and resignation in 
adversity, in deprivations, in bodily pains, 
distress and agony. Nowhere, in ancient or 
modern times, have we any account of any 
person whose adversity, deprivations and suf- 
ferings were so great, so unendurable as Job's 
are represented to have been. We read that 
on a certain day, when his sons and his 
daughters were eating and drinking wine in 
their eldest brother's house, a messenger came 
to Job and said, " Tiie oxen were plowing 
and the asses were feeding beside them, and 
the Sabeans fell upon them and took them 
away ; yea, they have slain the servants with 
the edge of the sword." And another messen- 
ger came and said, ''The fire of God is fallen 
from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep 
and the servants, and consumed them." And 
then there came the third, and said, ''The 
Chaldeans made three bands, and fell upon the 
camels, and have carried them away." And 
then came the fourth, and said, "Thy sons and 
thy daughters were eating and drinking wine 
in their eldest brother's house, and there came 
a great wind from the wilderness and smote 
the four corners of the house, and it fell upon 



DISCOURSE ON JOB. 131 

the young men, and they are dead ; and I only 
am escaped alone to tell thee!" 

And how did Job conduct himself on this 
distressing occasion ? Did he rave like a mad- 
man or a fool ? No : he was calm, submis- 
sive ; he humbled himself, he fell down on the 
ground and worshiped, and said, ^' Naked 
came I from the earth, and naked shall I re- 
turn thither ; the Lord gave, and the Lord 
hath taken away ; blessed be the name of the 
Lord." In all this Job sinned not, nor charged 
God foolishly. 

But here was not the end of Job's calamity. 
It seems that Satan was not satisfied with the 
evil he had already been the means of bringing 
upon Job, and he was probably dissatisfied in 
that he had not caused Job to sin against his 
Maker. And to move the Lord to permit him 
further to injure and distress Job, he sa^^s to 
the Lord, (rather insolently,) ''Skin for skin, 
yea, all that a man hath will he give for his 
life — (a life of ease and comfort, free from 
pain) — but put forth now thy hand and touch 
his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee 
to thy face." And, strange as it may seem to 
us, the Lord said unto Satan, "Behold, he is 
in thine hand ; but save his life " — that was 



132 DISCOURSE ON JOB. 

all the restriction that was laid upon Satan. 
** So went forth Satan from the presence of the 
Lord" — and, undoubtedly with infernal joy, 
smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his 
foot to his crown." 

And how did Job behave himself in this 
extremity of distress ? Did he profanely curse 
and take the name of God in vain ? No : he 
was resigned, humble ; he " sat down among 
the ashes;" his grief was too great for utter- 
ance ; ^^ he opened not his mouth," till his 
wife, speaking contemptuously of his integrity, 
bid him ''curse God and die." Then Job 
opened his mouth and rebuked her, and said, 
^' Thou speakest as one of the foolish (wicked) 
women speaketh : what, shall we receive good 
of the hand of the Lord, and shall we not re- 
ceive evil without murmuring or complaining 
against him ?" In all this did not Job sin 
with his lips, nor utter one complaining word; 
though he undoubtedly meditated, thought, 
and said to himself, '' It is the Lord who hath 
done it — who hath permitted all these evils to 
come upon me. Let him do what seemeth him 
good ; I know that he must do right, and what 
finally will be best for me. And I trust that 
I shall not be condemned and finally cast off; 



DISCOURSE ON JOB. 133 

for I know that my Kedeemer liveth ; and 
though worms will destroy this body, yet in 
my spirit shall I see God as he is — a God of 
infinite goodness, love and mercy towards all 
his intelligent creatures.'^ 

There are many other things, as they are 
represented in the character of Job, worthy 
of all notice and imitation. But I have not 
time now to enumerate them : I can only re- 
commend the study and often reading of the 
Book of Job. And I will add, if you are, or 
have been, or should be, in any degree afflicted 
and distressed as Job is represented to have 
been, like him be patient and resigned, and 
murmur not against the providence of God ; 
be perfect and upright, fear God, and eschew 
evil ; and then you may hope and expect, 
through the grace of God, a restoration (if not 
an addition thereto) of all the comforts, bless- 
ings and happiness you may have lost ; and 
hereafter to meet this godly, earthly sufferer, 
and an innumerable company of the earthly 
afflicted, and of angels and glorified spirits, 
in that happy, glorious kingdom, where there 
will be no losses, no disappointments, no sor- 
row, grief or pain ; but where there will be 
nothing but fullness of joys and holy pleasures 
evermore I 



LECTURE 



SACRED, CHURCH, AND SOCIAL MUSIC. 



It is my intention, on this occasion, to take 
a brief retrospective view of the history of 
the art and science of music — to speak of its 
use and importance in private associations 
and in public worship — to consider some of its 
general principles, powers, effects and influ- 
ence, and the propriety and duty of cultivating 
and improving the science, in order to im- 
prove the mind and meliorate the heart. 

Most of the arts and sciences have been 
discovered, invented, first known or used, 
within the memory of man, human tradition, 
or the records of history. But who is old 
enough to tell, what tradition has handed down 
to us, or what history, ancient or modern, 
sacred or profane, or even fabulous, can clearly 
inform us, when the delightful, holy art of 
music first was — first charmed the ear, cheered 



LECTURE ON SACRED MUSIC, &C. 135 

the mind, enlivened the spirits, meliorated the 
affections, heightened the social enjoyments of 
life, inspired devotion, and raised the soul to 
heaven ? 

But though we may not be able to tell when 
this art first existed, or when the science first 
apparently began its progress, yet we may, 
perhaps with some profit and pleasure, take a 
brief retrospective view of its history, approx- 
imate towards its origin, and consider some of 
its principles, powers and effects upon the 
minds, hearts and lives of men. 

It may be well to bear in mind the dis- 
tinction between an art and a science. An 
art is the gift of nature, or of nature^s God, 
which may be greatly improved by practice 
only. Science is knowledge, or art improved 
by precepts founded on principles ; it is the 
regulation and advancement of art, according 
to rules, restrictions and various artificial 
adaptations. A person may possess the art of 
music without knowing anything of the sci- 
ence ; and one may have the science and 
possess nothing of the art — be unable to exe- 
cute a single strain with taste. The birds of 
the air have the art of music, while they are 
not taught and are incapable of being taught 



1S6 LECTURE ON SACRED, 

the science. But music now may be considered 
both an art and a science, productive of the 
most exquisite delight. 

Whatever may be said of the sweetness, 
simplicity and nature of the music or melody 
of the early ages, it is an undoubted fact, that 
sacred music is now in a higher state of per- 
fection than it ever was before. Throughout 
the civilized world, especially in the larger 
towns and cities, it is performed w4th good 
taste, great skill and harmony. Instruments 
have been multiplied to suit all occasions and 
please all ears ; and the human voice has been 
modulated and attuned, approximating towards 
perfection. 

Still, however, the present age cannot claim 
the merit of discovering the art, or first teach- 
ing the science. And here let me observe, 
that though in modern music there is great 
science, much refinement, apparent good taste 
and perfection displayed — though the rules of 
harmony are well and strictly observed, yet, in 
my opinion, many of the late compositions and 
productions are not so exquisite, so devotional, 
so solemn, so well adapted for church music, 
as some of former times. And let me urge all 
teachers and leaders of sacred music, i« their 



CHURCH AND SOCIAL MUSIC. 13 1 

selections for the church service, to choose 
such pieces as are simple, devotional, solemn 
and impressive. The object of sacred music 
is not to tickle the ear, to delight the fancy, 
or to excite a momentary, noisy joy, but to 
warm and meliorate the heart, to calm the 
tumults of the soul, to kindle a steady, lasting 
flame of holy love, and to elevate all our affec- 
tions heavenward. Enough of this kind of 
devotional music (if our own manufactory is 
deficient) may be found among the choice fruits 
and devotional productions of Pleyel, Beetho- 
ven, Mozart, Haydn, Handel, and others of 
former days, who seemed to be almost heaven- 
inspired men. Yet these great masters of 
music never claimed to be the discoverers of 
the art, or the first who studied, taught and 
practised the science in which they so greatly 
excelled. It had been in common use and high 
estimation for centuries before. Even before 
the invention of printing, in the fifteenth cen- 
tury, the state of music had been improving 
for several centuries. Even through the dark 
ages of science we find some kind of music 
in use among every people of whom we have 
any history. And it might be interesting to 
take a view of the progress and effect of music 
12 



138 LECTURE ON SACRED, 

in Rome, Greece and Egypt ; but as their 
music was mostly of a secular and warlike 
kind, I will pass it over as not appropriate to 
this occasion, and confine our consideration 
chiefly to sacred music, or the music of which 
we have an account in the Bible. We will 
briefly retrace and glance over the sacred his- 
tory on this subject. 

We are assured that music was practised by 
the Apostles of Christ, after his resurrection, 
on various occasions. Paul and Silas, in prison 
and in chains, sang praises, to God ; and the 
divine approbation was fully manifested by 
their immediate, miraculous deliverance. And 
our Lord himself, before his passion, when he 
instituted a new, afi'ectionate, holy ordinance 
of remembrance, together with his disciples, 
sang a hymn. We are not informed of what 
style the music was, but it must have been 
pure and exquisite, for the Leader of the choir 
was one who spake and sang as never man 
spake or sang. He was, indeed, a man in 
appearance, but he was truly the Son of God, 
at whose advent upon earth, we are informed, 
there was heard music of a most exalted, 
sublime, celestial character — for, " suddenly 
there was with the angel a multitude of the 



CHURCH AND SOCIAL MUSIC. 189 

heavenly host, praising God and singing, Glory- 
to God in the highest, and on earth peace, 
good-will towards men." But though this was 
an event that showed the amazing, astonishing 
love and mercy of God, yet it was not the first 
instance of musical praise on earth ; for cen- 
turies before, the prophets, who prophesied of 
this great event, seemed to be inspired with 
the gift of music as well as of prophecy. And 
it was practised by idolatrous nations, by tliose 
who worshiped the gods of gold, of silver, of 
brass, of wood and of stone. The great and 
impious Nebuchadnezzar, at his blasphemous 
worship in the height of his power, made 
great musical displays. And when, in con- 
tempt of the true God, he had made an image 
of gold of immense size, he decreed and caused 
it to be proclaimed: '' To you it is commanded, 
people, nations and languages, that at what 
time ye shall hear the soimd of the cornet, 
flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, dulcimer, and all 
kinds of music, ye fall down and worship the 
golden image which Nebuchadnezzar the king 
hath set up." Horrid, impious prostitution of 
the celestial charms of music ! 

And long before the time of Nebuchadnezzar 
the Jews used various music, in their worship 



140 LECTURE ON SACRED, 

of the true God, and on other occasions. Solo- 
mon, in his day, the wise king of Israel, was sur- 
rounded with "men-singers and women-singers, 
and the delights of the sons of men, as musical 
instruments, and that of all sorts." It is said 
that the number of his songs was a thousand 
and five. And Josephus tells us that " he made 
two hundred thousand trumpets and forty 
thousand other instruments of music, to record 
and praise God with at the dedication of the 
temple." But though Solomon was directly 
endowed by the Almighty with wisdom, know- 
ledge, wealth and honor, such as no king had 
before him — so that there was none like him 
in all the earth — yet the gift of music was 
not first bestowed in his time ; for we find that 
his father, David, the sweet singer of Israel, 
was enraptured with its charms ; that he was 
a most skillful performer on various instru- 
ments, and much of his time was devoted to 
holy and delightful songs of praise to God : 
*' Unto thee will I sing with the harp, 0, thou 
holy one of Israel !" But though David was 
the best, the most ardent and devout musician 
of the ancients, yet he was not the first ; we 
have recorded many accounts of music before 
his day. But without noticing them all, we 



I 



CHURCH AND SOCIAL MUSICJ 141 

will revert to the first and one of the most 
sublime hymns or anthems of praise of the 
Supreme Being to be found on sacred record, 
which was performed with voices and instru- 
ments with triumphant rapture. After the 
wonderful and miraculous deliverance of the 
children of Israel from Egyptian bondage, then 
sang Moses and the children of Israel this 
song : " I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath 
triumphed gloriously. Who is like unto thee, 
O Lord, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, 
doing wonders !" And the women also took a 
part in this triumphant song : '* And Miriam, 
the prophetess, took a timbrel in her hand, 
and all the women went out after her ; and 
Miriam answered them : ^' Sing ye unto the 
Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously ! the 
horse and his rider hath he thrown into the 
sea !" 

And nearly three hundred years before this 
time both vocal and instrumental music were 
in use. Laban, complaining against Jacob for 
fleeing away secretly, said unto him, *'Why 
didst thou not tell me, that I might have sent 
thee away with mirth and with songs, with 
tabret and with harp ?" 

And even long before the flood, we read of 
12*. 



I 



142 LECTURE ON SACRED, 

instruments of music, and of a certain musical 
family. Jubal, the sixth descendant of Cain, 
was called the ^'father of all such as handle 
the harp and the organ." 

Before this time we have no express mention 
of human music. But as there is no account 
' given of who was the father, or first performer 
of vocal music, it is to be presumed that it was 
in use before instrumental. And we well may 
imagine, as Milton has most beautifully con- 
ceived, that our first parents in paradise were 
delightfully employed in pure, simple, holy 
songs of praise to their great Creator; and thai 
beholding the beauty, glory, and majesty of his 
works around them, they devoutly sang: 

"These are thy glorious works, Parent of Good, 
Almighty ! Thine, this universal frame. 
Thus wondrous fair ! Thyself how wondrous then ! 
Unspeakable ! Who sits above these heavens, 
To us invisible, or dimly seen 
In these, thy lower works, yet these declare 
Thy goodness beyond thought, and power divine !" 

Indeed, our world at its first creation seems, as 
it were, to have been ushered into being and 
honored by a perfect band of glorious music 
from heaven, for " then the morning stars sang 
together, and all the sons of God shouted for 
joy." Ye&, 



CHURCH AND SOCIAL MUSIC. 14S 

" From harmony, from heavenly harmony, 
Creation first began — from harmony 
To harmony, through all the notes it ran, 
The diapason closing full in man." 

But from history we can retrace our subject 
no further; we can now retrograde only in the 
delightful field of fancy, and imagine that for 
ages of ages, million of millions of years be- 
fore this world was, angels and archangels, 
cherubim and seraphim were, and ever will be, 
continually employed in celebrating the praises 
of the Most High, with music the most sweet, 
sublime and rapturous — with never-ending an- 
thems, hosannas, and hallelujahs to Him that 
sitteth on the throne, and to the Lamb for ever 
and ever. 

We are therefore led to conclude that music 
is of divine, celestial origin; that it was a gift 
of God to men upon earth, to be a source of 
comfort, delight and happiness throughout all 
ages; and the most noble and effectual means 
of celebrating the praises of the Giver. Surely, 
then, we may say it was the first art known on 
earth; and that it is and ever will be the most 
delightful employment of all the inhabitants of 
heaven. 

Under these devout impressions, if time would 



144 LECTURE ON SACRED, 

permit, much might be said on the principles, 
powers, effects and influences of music, and the 
propriety, use and duty of cultivating and im- 
proving the science. 

Nature seems to have established an interest- 
ing connection between the emotions of the 
soul and the sense of hearing. The ear appears 
to be most intimately connected with the feel- 
ings of the heart; and this feeling expresses 
itself most readily in tones, or musical expres- 
sions; and all our intellectual sensibilities are 
affected or excited by something extraneous. 
The natural source of all music, of all sound, is 
that salutary, invisible element, without which 
the whole animal, and even vegetable creation 
would languish, wither and die. The air we 
breathe, and which supports our existence, is 
also the life of music. Could you place the most 
perfect and powerful instrument in a place en- 
tirely void of air, and have it touched by the 
most skillful hand, yet it would produce no mu- 
sic, no delightful sounds at all; it would be like 
the grave, silent; like faith without works, dead. 
But when this melodious, harmonious element 
is put in happy motion by the vibration of large 
and small strings of different length and ten- 
sion, or impelled through pipes of different 



CHURCH AND SOCIAL MUSIC. 145 

length and sizes, or by the percussion of elastic 
bodies, or when it is breathed forth by the won- 
derful power and force of the human organs, 
it produces a certain compound of delightful 
sounds, which we call music. But although 
these sounds may be produced in an almost in- 
finite variety of ways and methods, yet it is 
impossible for us to produce more than eight 
different tones, with their accompanying semi- 
tones ; all the rest are in fact the same, only in 
an octave or octaves above or below. But in 
this octave of sounds there is a great mystery; 
some of the tones as connected with others 
being concords, or agreeable sounds, and others 
discords, or disagreeable, jarring sounds. The 
unison, fifth and eighth, and, though less per- 
fect, the third, fourth, and sixth, are naturally 
concords; the second and seventh, and their oc- 
taves, are perfect discords. And do you ask, 
why were these discords incorporated into the 
system of music ? of what use are they ? and 
why were not all the tones made concords ? 
Explain to me why the sun does not always 
shine equally bright upon us — why it is some- 
times obscured by clouds and sometimes lost 
in midnight darkness — why our atmosphere is 
not always fair and clear — why there are storms, 



146 LECTURE ON SACRED, 

tornadoes, thunders, lightnings and earthquake^ 
— why all nature is not always calm, serene 
and peaceful as a summer's sea, when not a 
breath of wind flies o'er its surface — why in our 
world there are troubles, anxieties, sorrows, 
diseases and death; unfold all these, and other 
mysteries in the natural and moral world, and 
I will tell you why discords are in music, and 
what is the use thereof. 

But though we cannot fully comprehend all 
the works and wonders of nature and Provi- 
dence, yet from reason and revelation we know 
that infinite wisdom has arranged the whole 
system in the best possible manner; that there 
are no seeming imperfections in nature that 
may not be of some service, or teach us some 
useful lesson. So some discords in music are 
not useless: they enhance and give additional 
pleasure to the charms and delights of the 
concords — as occasional darkness makes the 
light doubly interesting, as storms- and tem- 
pests make a clear day wonderfully delightful, 
and as the troubles, evils and disappointments 
of this life make the hopes of heaven glorious. 
They also teach us practical lessons — that the 
world, as well as the musical gamut, contains 
discords and many disagreeable things; that 



CHURCH AND SOCIAL MUSIC. 147 

we ourselves are not perfect and concordant; 
that we are often in discord with the strict 
rules of virtue and holiness ; that we are some- 
times at seconds and sevenths with the good 
of our fellow-creatures and the honor of the 
Creator; that even professed Christians are 
not always in unison and concord with one an- 
other; that we are not naturally inclined to 
continue and rest satisfied with an uninter- 
rupted, long succession of perfect concords and 
unmixed delights, while here contending with 
a variety of evils ; that as the best pieces of 
music, for earthly performance, contain some 
discords, so our best services here are mixed 
with imperfections. 

But as our system of music contains more 
concords than discords, (by three to one,) it 
does not tend to prove the strange doctrine 
(held by some) of a total, native depravity of 
human nature; that all men are by nature 
wholly incapable of being or doing good, or 
even of thinking one good thought. But doubt- 
ing whether this doctrine can be proved by 
any of the sciences, or by reason or revelation, 
I must reject it from the musical gamut, and 
refer it to the Society of Mystics. 

But while I would not degrade our natures 



US LECTURE ON SACRED, 

(those natures God has graciously given us) 
too low, I would not exalt them too high, nor 
claim for them any merit. If there are any 
concord, any harmony, any love, any virtue, 
any noble, generous, devout, holy affections in 
our natures, we will take no merit to ourselves; 
therefore we will give all the praise, all the 
credit, all the glory, to the benevolent Author 
of our natures, the Father of our spirits, the 
Giver of every good gift. *^ Let him that glo- 
rieth, glory in the Lord." But men should not 
undervalue the good gifts of God. 

Much might be said upon the effects, powers 
and influence of music; and more may he felt 
than can be expressed. Pure, solemn, holy 
music is inexpressibly felt in the soul. It is 
not chiefly intended to enlighten the head, but 
to warm the heart with love to God and men. 

If we place reliance upon history, ancient 
music, though the most simple, was most power- 
ful and effective. David with his harp seemed 
to have power to meliorate the bad passions, 
to heal diseases of the mind, and to drive away 
the evil spirit. **And it came to pass, when 
the evil spirit was upon Saul, David took an 
harp and played with his hand: so Saul was 
refreshed and was well; and the evil spirit 
eparted from him." 



CHURCH AND SOCIAL MUSIC. 149 

Sacred music, in David^s time, seemed to pro- 
duce the most pleasant and boly affections. ^* I 
will sing unto the Lord," said David, *'for it is 
good and it is pleasant, and praise is comely.'^ 
*^ I will sing of mercy and judgment; unto thee, 
O Lord, will I sing." It was by music and 
prayer that Davi& constantly w^orshiped his 
God; and should not his example be followed 
by all men ? Sacred music may be considered 
the language of the heart. It is peculiarly 
adapted for private and public worship; to 
soften, warm and meliorate the heart; to elevate 
and enliven the soul in joy; to comfort and 
support the mind in sorrow, and to move all 
the affections with love and gratitude for mer- 
cies received, and with grief and repentance 
for sins committed. There is no holy, gene* 
rous, noble passion that may not be enhanced 
by the influence of appropriate music. 

Many of the ancient nations, though, com- 
pared with us, rude and barbarous, yet were 
much devoted to music, and practiced it in 
their worship and on other occasions. The 
Greeks had the most extravagant faith in the 
power and influence of music. They believed 
it was the sure supporter of virtue, and the 
principal reward of the blessed; that a neglect 
13 



150 LECTUBS ON SACRED 

of it was the father of cruelty, and would be 
the destruction of government; that the best 
performers could, at pleasure, excite and con- 
trol all the passions, cure the sick, and raise 
the dead to life. But without dwelling upon 
ancient men and things, let us consider what 
we ourselves know and feel to be the social 
and divine effects of this celestial art. The first 
simple effect of domestic music, is to lull the 
infant child to sleep and rest, (here nature tells 
X)f music^s charms;) and then, with tender notes, 
to swell the growing mind to love, and grati- 
tude, and praise. It also may make the solitary 
one devotionally social with himself and his 
God. But the great and general power of 
music over the minds of a rational, moral and 
religious people, is to equalize the temper, to 
check and regulate extravagant joys, and to 
exalt and enliven the soul v/hen too much de- 
pressed. The poet says: 

" By music minds an equal temper know ; 
Nor swell too high, nor 8ink too low : 
If in the breast tumultuous joys arise, 
Music her soft, assuasivc voice applies; 
Or, when the soul is pressed with cares, 
Exalts her in enlivening airs.'* 

It also has a tendency to cheer the sorrowful 
and desponding, to rouse and awaken the 



CHURCH AND SOCIAL MUSIC- 151 

drowsy and slothful, to cure the poison of 
envy, and "to make man mild and sociable to 
man;" for at the performance of appropriate 
music, 

" Melanclioly lifts Ler head, 

Morpheus rouses from his bed, 

Sloth unfolds her arras, and wakes ; 

Listening Envy drops her snakes.'* 

But the highest, most salutary, noble, glorious 
power of music, is to fit the soul for divine, 
devout contemplation, praise and delight; to 
warm the heart with love, and lift the soul 
to heaven. Yes, all 

** Our joys below it can improve, 

And antedate the bliss above : 

This the divine Cecilia found, 

And to her Maker's praise confined the sound." 

In fine, there is no rational subject, there is 
no pleasing scene, no present joys, no hopes of 
future bliss, that may not be enhanced and 
rendered doubly interesting by the use of ap- 
propriate music. Our private meditations, our 
domestic comforts, our social amusements, our 
innocent, convivial entertainments, our heroic 
feelings, our patriotic celebrations, and, above 
all, our most holy devotions, are all warmed, 
enlivened, enlarged, elevated by the irresistible 
charms of music. 



152 LECTURE ON SACRED MUSIC. 

From the view we have taken of this subject, 
we must acknowledg-e the propriety, usefulness 
and duty for every one to cultivate and prac- 
tice sacred music. And it is a pleasing duty; 
it is a delightful, noble, celestial employment — 
an employment in which Moses, and David, and 
Solomon, and Jesus Christ, and his apostles 
took a part on earth, and in which angels and 
glorified spirits are and ever will be ardently 
engaged in heaven for ever. 

But it should be considered that the music 
acceptable to the ear of harmonic perfection, is 
the music of the soul, the holy vibrations of 
the heart. We must sing with the spirit, and 
with the understanding also; we must make 
melody in our hearts as well as with our voices 
and instruments, to please the great Author of 
all harmony. All our affections, all our powers 
must be sweetly attuned and harmonized to 
grateful notes of praise and glory to God, to 
meet his approbation. And may he grant, that 
when we have done attempting to sound his 
praise here on earth, we may be admitted to 
unite with thousands of thousands and ten 
times thousand of angels and glorified spirits, 
in celebrating with rapture the high praises 
of Him who sitteth upon the throne for ever 
and ever I 



BIGOTRY AND EXCLUSIVENESS. 



*' And John answered liim, saying, Master, we saw one 
casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not 
us ; and we forbade him, because he followeth not us. 
But Jesus said, Forbid him not : for there is no man 
which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly 
speak evil of me. For he that is not against us, is 
on our part," (is with us.) Mark, ix. 38-40. 

In the first place we will consider (though 
it may not be of the highest importance) what 
must be meant by casting out devils, or being 
possessed of a devil, or having a devil or devils, 
as stated in the New Testament. 

Upon this subject we can only conjecture, 
for we have no particular account given of im- 
material, evil, spiritual beings, or what a devil 
in man is, or must be, or in what way or man- 
ner he or it may be cast out, removed or cured. 
It must have been effected, I imagine, by a mi- 
raculous work ; for it seems that Christ had 
given the twelve, and probably the seventy, and 
perhaps others, power and directions to per- 
form miraculous works, '' to cast out unclean 
13* 



154 BIGOTRY AND EXCLUSIVENESS. 

spirits, to heal all manner of sickness and all 
manner of disease." And he directed them ** to 
go and preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven 
is at hand; heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, 
raise the dead, and cast out devils ; do all in 
my name." 

The devil, or Satan, is generally considered 
to be the chief or leader of those wicked, rebel- 
lious angels who most provokingly sinned and 
revolted against God in heaven, and were by 
him cast down to hell — ^^ there to remain, (as 
Milton hath conceived) unrespited, unrepriev- 
ed, unpitied, ages of hopeless end." And we 
are not informed what number of companions 
and associates he had in his rebellion. 

But I conjecture that this term is frequently 
used in the Bible in a figurative sense; that 
among the Jews (for the Jews were a super- 
stitious people, Paul said to the Athenians, 
'^ I perceive that in all things ye are too super- 
stitious,") all malignant sicknesses, diseases, 
and inflictions of body and mind, all idiotism, 
epilepsy, all lunacy, all leprosy, maniacism, 
and every species of derangement and madness 
which it was supposed could not be cured, re- 
moved, or cast out by any human power or 
skill, but by a miraculous, divine work, were 



BlfiOTRY AND EXCLUSIVENESS. 155 

by the Jews considered to be devils or evil 
spirits, that had somehow or other, ^^;per fo,s, 
aut nefas/^ got into men or women to control 
and torment them, and that all persons who 
were thereby afflicted or possessed were sup- 
posed to be possessed of a devil, which could 
not be cast out or cured but by miraculous 
power and wisdom. 

And there are now in the world, confined in 
prisons and penitentiaries, many hundreds, yea 
thousands of persons, who are very like in 
every respect those who, when Christ was upon 
earth, were said to be possessed of a devil, yet 
no one now considers such persons so possess- 
ed. And I cannot imagine that any human be- 
ing can have or be possessed of any such real, 
personal spirit in these days, in this world, or 
that such ever was literally the case; but I do be- 
lieve that all the aggravated, abominable sins, 
all the malignant, horrid sicknesses, unclean 
diseases, and all supposed incurable afflictions 
of men, both of body and mind, are figurative- 
ly described in the New Testament as devils 
or evil spirits in the possession of men; but 
they are not all brought upon mankind by real 
personal evil spirits, but by the mysterious, 
wise, though to us unsearchable providence of 



156 BIGOTRY AND EXCLUSIVENESS. 

God. Nor can I conceive that our wise, merci- 
ful Father in heaven would allow those real 
rebellious spirits, whom he had sentenced and 
sent to hell, to come up personally to this 
world to vex and torment his favored creatures, 
whom he had made in his own image and like- 
ness, and for whom he had such amazing- love 
that he sent his beloved, only begotten Son in- 
to the world even to suffer and die, that he 
might bless and save them. 

It appears to me utterly improbable that 
the merciful God would have suffered seven 
real personal devils to take possession of the 
fioivs Mary Magdalene to vex and torment her, 
and I cannot believe that the all-wise God has 
given the devil or devils power to direct and 
control his holy providence. 

I cannot therefore, upon full consideration, 
believe that any real personal devils or evil 
spirits did literally possess men or women, a& 
verbally stated in the New Testament; but I 
adapt a figurative meaning to the account, 
which I think is more consistent with what we 
can learn from the Word of God and the dic- 
tates of reason. But all this is a matter of 
speculation, and non-essential to be much consid- 
ered; so I will come to a more important, prac- 



BIGOTRY AND EXCLUSIVENESS. 15t 

tical, and useful examination and illustration of 
other parts of our text. 

Probably it was after the twelve had return- 
ed from the mission on which Christ had sent 
them, that John said, *' Master, we saw one 
casting out devils in thy name, and he follow- 
eth not us; and we forbade him, because he fol- 
io weth not us," — did not agree with us in all our 
creeds, and do entirely as we thought right. 

For this act John undoubtedly thought that 
they should receive the approbation of their 
Master. But instead of approbation, they re- 
ceived censure and rebuke; for Christ said to 
them, *' Forbid him not ; for there is no man w^ho 
shall do a miracle or cast out a devil in my 
name, that can lightly speak evil of me, or de- 
serve to be forbidden." And probably he said 
much more than what is recorded; for it is not 
to be supposed that all the precious words 
which Christ spoke while on earth are fully 
recorded. 

It is probable that Christ then, in love, expa- 
tiated largely with his disciples — rebuked them 
seriously, and said to them. You have done very 
wrong — you have sorely grieved me — you have 
greatly displeased me — you had no more right 
to forbid that brother, as you say you did, than 



158 BIGOTRY AND EXCLUSIVENESS. 

he had to forbid you; for he is one whom I 
came into the world to comfort, bless and save ; 
he is one of my messengers, one of my disci- 
ples, and your brother. I gave him miraculous 
power, and sent him out, as I did you, to cast 
out devils, to heal all manner of sicknesses and 
all manner of diseases, and to do many other 
miraculous works, all in my name; none of 
which he or you could do without my power 
and direction. And he was fiiithfully and con- 
scientiously fulfilling his mission and doing my 
work when you unkindly forbade him. And the 
reason you have given for forbidding him is 
wholly insufficient; and you must repent of it, 
and then I will forgive 3^ou. You must be sen- 
sible that I never authorized 3^ou to forbid or 
reject any one who was engaged in my service, 
though he might not in all matters follow you, 
and adopt your views and dogmas. I never 
taught you to require men to follow you, but to 
follow me, and to receive my instructions, and 
to do my will, which is the will of my Father, 
and not to obey the will of man. 

I never approved of an unkind or forbidding 
spirit in you toward any one who might differ 
from you. I always cautioned you against con- 
troversies and divisions among the brethren, 



BIGOTRY AND EXCLXJSIVENESS. 159 

and bigotry and sectarianism in the church. I 
have urged you to be all one in love and in 
faith towards me, as the sure evidence that you 
are my true disciples. And how can you ex- 
pect to become worthy, and to be admitted into 
my cne loving, harmonious church in heaven, 
if you have a forbidding, bigoted, censorious 
spirit on earth ? My beloved disciples, if you 
love me keep my commandments, and treasure 
up my instructions in your hearts, and I shall 
love you, and my Father will love you and 
bless you. 

We are not informed who the one whom the 
tiisciples forbid, was : he might have been one 
of the seventy — at least he must have been one 
whom Christ had empov/ered and sent out on 
commission, as he did the twelve, or he could 
not have been doing the work of Christ, which 
the disciples unauthorizedly forbade him to do. 
It is probable that Christ informed his disciples 
who and what he was, and that he said to them, 
*^ Instead of forbidding him, you should have 
received him kindly, encouraged him in his 
good work which he was doing according to 
my instructions, and approved of him as a bro- 
ther, no matter whether he followed you and 
agreed to your non-essential doclrines or not; 



160 BIGOTRY AND EXCLUSIVENESS. 

if he followed me and my instructions, that was 
enough to gain my approbation. And I would 
that all my disciples might do likewise, and 
that all my churches on earth might always be 
free from a forbidding, censorious spirit — that 
they all may be in harmony with each other, 
be one in love and faith in me, as their Re- 
deemer and Saviour. I came not into the world 
to condemn the world, but that the world 
through me might be saved — might harmonize. 
But it is most important that we should 
make a proper, useful and close application of 
this subject to ourselves, to the state and con- 
dition of Christianity, and the customs and 
rules of the churches now on earth — that 
we should diligently and faithfully inquire 
if there is any unchristian, forbidding, censo- 
rious spirit now prevailing among professed 
disciples of Christ ; if any such spirit or root 
of bitterness is growing up in our churches, 
or among any professors of Christianity ; if 
there is throughout the Christian world a 
general lack of that charity without which 
Paul said, " Though I speak with the tongues 
of men and angels, and have not charity, I 
am become as sounding brass or a tinkling 
cymbal ; and though I have the gift of pro- 
phecy, and understand all mysteries and all 



BIGOTRY AND EXCLUSIVENESS. 161 

knowledge ; and though I have all faith, so 
that I could remove mountains, and have not 
charity, I am nothing. And though I bestow 
all my goods to feed the poor, and have not 
charity, it profiteth me nothing." Such w^ere 
St. PauPs views of charity, which he undoubt- 
edly received by inspiration from his Master, 
who was all charity and perfect love. 

Now let us fully examine and make close 
application of our subject, in the first place, to 
ourselves — first cast out the beam m our own 
eyes, that we may see clearly to pull out the 
mote in a brother's eye. Have we the same 
kind, friendly. Christian feelings towards Chris- 
tians of another denomination, or family, as 
to our own ? Do we cordially fellowship and 
commune with them as disciples and brethren 
of one common Lord and Master ? Have we 
full charity and good-will towards them ? In« 
stead of forbidding, censuring and condemning 
them for not following us, or for some other 
non-essential matter, do we sympathize with 
them, encourage and aid them, and from the 
heart say to them, " God speed ?" If we do 
not, then we have a forbidding, censorious 
spirit, and not the spirit of charity and of 
Christ in us. 

14 



162 BIGOTRY AND EXCLUSIVENESS. 

And then, after closely applying the subject 
to ourselves, may we not, with candor and in 
love, make application of it to others — inquire 
if there are not some Christians, some v/hole 
sect or denomination, who will have no com- 
munion or fellowship with those who have not 
been baptized by immersion — who will not 
allow them, but forbid them to unite with 
them in the celebration of the Lord^s supper ? 
Must not such proceedings be entirely con- 
trary to tlie injunctions and spirit of Christ, 
the Master ? And should not they who adopt 
them consider Christ as saying to them, in his 
Gospel, *' Forbid them not — debar them not. 
You have no more right to forbid and reject 
them, than they have to forbid and reject 3^ou. 
They and you should be one in love and spirit, 
as I and my Father are one/' 

Again : are there not some denominations 
who, if they do not forbid and reject all others, 
yet, without any good cause, select some one, 
two, or three denominations whom they con- 
demn, forbid, and pronounce heretics and not 
worthy of the name of Christians; will have no 
communion or fellowship with them; will not 
allow their ministers or pastors to preach in 
their pulpits, or to proclaim the Gospel of Christ 
to their people ? And can they who practice 



BIGOTRY AND EXCLUSIVENESS. 163 

such tilings, expect or even hope to receive the 
approbation of that Master whose love to men 
was stronger than death, for he willingly died 
to save them, and whose spirit and example 
they set at nought ? 

Again: are there not some Christians, some 
whole denomination of Christians, who assume 
that they are certainly right and that all others 
are in error; who adopt and establish certain 
creeds, catechisms and dogmas of human in- 
vention, for the rule and guide of their faith 
and practice, instead of the plain, unerring 
Word of God; and who condemn and anathe- 
matize all those Christians w^ho cannot con- 
scientiously receive and be governed by their 
unscriptural creeds — by their Calvinistic points, 
by all the Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion — by 
their Athanasian absurdities and contradic- 
tions — by their triune God — by their double- 
natured Christ, and by many other strange 
dogmas, none of which can be found in the 
Word of God ? 

The evils of sectarianism and bigotry are 
most destructive to pure religion and the truth 
as it is in Jesus. 

When our blessed Saviour was upon earth, 
he lamented and wept over Jerusalem for 
its sins and follies. Were he now on earth, 



164 BIGOTRY AND EXCLUSIVENES3. 

how v/ould he lament and weep over his pro- 
fessed disciples for their divisions, controver- 
sies; their uncharitableness ; their unkind feel- 
ings towards each other ; their forbidding, 
censorious spirit, and their great departure from 
the teachings and example of their Master ? 
How long will these evils remain ? will they 
not cease ? Yes, I do believe that Christ's 
prayer to his Father will be heard and answer- 
ed; and I do believe that God in his great 
goodness, in his own due time, will bring about 
a great, happy, glorious change; will cause all 
Christians, all the sincere disciples of his Son, 
of every sect and denomination, to become 
one with him and his Son, in love and har- 
mony — when they all shall be of one heart and 
one mind; when they all shall believe in, and 
worship supremely, the one God the Father, 
and receive into their hearts, with faith and 
love, the one Lord Jesus Christ, their blessed 
Saviour — when there will be no exclusive- 
ness, no unkind feelings, no unchristian spirit 
prevailing — when holy praise shall unitedly 
ascend from all hearts and all lips; and when 
the devout, rapturous song shall echo through- 
out the world, *' Glory to God in the highest, 
and on earth peace and good will to men!" O, 
roll on, roll on that happy, glorious day! 



THE SUPREME GOD, 

HIS SON AND HOLY SPIEIT. 



It is my design to try to show a brief way 
to prove, establish and maintain the true doc- 
trine respecting the unity of God Almighty, 
the oneness and true sonship of Jesus Christ, 
and the true character and being or nature of 
the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God. 

Upon the subjects above stated, much, very 
much has been said, and large volumes, and al- 
most innumerable, have been written and pub- 
lished by good, great, and learned men, not, 
however, always harmoniously, but controver- 
sially. And they seem to have darkened coun- 
sel by words, rather than to have enlightened 
the mind by a bright display of ''the truth as 
it is in Jesus." It is therefore my ardent desire, 
even at the age of eighty-seven years, to at- 
tempt to establish and support the true doctrine 
and facts upon these subjects in a few words, 
in a short space; and I hope it will not be con- 
14* 



166 THE SUPREME GOD, 

sidered as vanity in me to attempt such a great 
undertaking", (after all that has been published,) 
if the evidence I shall introduce shall appear 
to be infallible, clear, and conclusive, so that he 
who runs may read, and all ages can understand. 
And the principal evidence I shall offer will 
be the testimony of only two infallible, omni- 
scient witnesses — no less than the only true, 
omniscient God, and his only beloved Son, the 
faithful and true Witness. 

But I must first premise some things, that 
are agreed and cannot be denied. It is and it 
must be acknowledged, that the only true God 
cannot lie, or deceive, or declare, or proclaim 
anything but what is strictly true and right, and 
fully in harmony with his own perfect charac- 
ter; and that his Son, the faithful and true Wit- 
ness, could not possibly testify and teach any- 
thing but the truth, which he was sent to 
declare. 

Let us, then, candidly consider what these 
two infallible witnesses testify — what they 
fully declare and proclaim most solemnly. 

The almighty, only true God has fully de- 
clared, solemnly, positively proclaimed of him- 
self, ^^ I alone am God ! and there is none else — 
none besides me, none with me I there is no 



HIS SON AND HOLY SPIRIT. 16t 

God like me ! I am the Almighty God !^' Many, 
very many such like proclamations may be 
found in the Word of God. And he never once 
proclaimed that he is three, or three persons in 
one God, or in any sense a triune being ! And 
if such was the truth, he, the righteous God, 
must have proclaimed it; he could not have 
used deception by withholding a truth most im- 
portant for men to know, and which was fully 
known, if true, only to himself and his Son. 
And the Son, the faithful and true Witness, re- 
peatedly, ..constantly taught, while on earth, the 
seme doctrine which his omniscient Father had 
proclaimed of himself. He seemed to feel it of 
infinite importance that the true character of 
his father should be clearly made known; for 
in solemn prayer to him he said, ''This is life 
eternal J to know thee^ the only true God, and 
Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" into the 
world, ''not to condemn the world, but that the 
world through him might be saved." 

As to the oneness and true son ship of Jesus 
Christ, we have the testimony of the omniscient 
Father, who repeatedly declared of him, " This 
is my beloved Son, (not one of my sons,) my 
only begotten Son, in whom I am w^ell pleased." 
And the Son himself many times declared of 



168 THE SUPREME GOD, 

himself, " I am the Son of God." He never 
said that he was only a man, or that he was 
God, the uncreated, supreme God ; but he 
always affirmed that he derived his being from 
his Father; that he had no power or capacity 
but what was given him of his Father; that 
he could do nothing of himself, but that 
all power in heaven and earth was given him 
of his Father ; that he lived by the Father, 
was dependent upon and obedient to him in all 
that he did or said. He seemed to have no 
separate will of his own, but always prayed to 
his Father that his will might be done. 

And as to the Holy Spirit, we have ample 
testimony of God and of Christ that it is only 
the Spirit of God Almighty, and not separately 
God, or the third person of God, or any person 
at all ; though, being the Spirit of God, it may 
well be called God, or be so considered ; for 
the spirit of every being is the essence of that 
being, and may be viewed as that being him- 
self, but not as another being. God frequently 
speaks of the Holy Spirit as his Spirit : ''My 
Spirit," said God, " shall not always strive," 
etc. But it is nowhere, in the Old or New 
Testament, considered that the Holy Spirit is 
separately the self-existent, supreme God. 



HIS SON AND HOLY SPIRIT, 169 

And Christ said he wouki send it. Therefore 
he must have considered it as an attribute of 
God or of himself, and not as the supreme God, 
for the supreme God is not sendoMe, could not 
be sent by the Son, for he is of himself, at all 
times, everywhere present. 

Thus we have the testimony of the only true 
God and of his Son, the faithful and true Wit- 
ness, and we might add (if necessary, but it 
seems not) that of the Apostle Paul, and the 
evidence of all nature and reason, to prove 
the strict unity of God the Father Almighty, 
the only true God, and the oneness and true 
sonship of Jesus Christ, and that the Holy 
Spirit is only the spirit of God Almighty, and 
not another separate God or person of God. 
And this is the only kind of evidence that is 
competent, that is admissible in the case. 
And is it possible that such evidence can be 
invalidated or overthrown? I think not — it 
must be conclusive — it must stand unshaken, 
though all the intelligent creatures of God on 
earth or in the whole universe should testify 
against it. The fallible cannot convict or fal- 
uify the infallible. And we can have no certain 
knowledge of God, but what we obtain from 
his Word or his works ; for who by (only) 



1*10 THE SUPREME GOD, 

searching can find out God — who can find out 
the Almighty to perfection ?" Who, by inven- 
tion and study, can discover the whole nature 
and character of the great, invisible, and, in 
some respects, incomprehensible God ? 

I would not now allude to the opposite doc- 
trine (called trinitarian) as now held by a 
great majority of the Christian world, for the 
purpose of condemning those who honestly 
advocate and support it, for I believe they are 
sincere, though in an intellectual error ; yet 
their hearts may be right with God, and zeal- 
ously engaged in all religious duties. I have 
charity for them, and can cordially unite with 
them in religious worship, and in all the duties 
of life. 

But I must consider this doctrine as now 
taught, that is, that the one only truly God is 
three, or three persons in one God, or a triune 
Being; and that Jesus Christ, his only begotten 
Son, is God, even that God whose Son he is, 
(and this is an impossibility,) and by whom he 
lives, and receives all his powers and capaci- 
ties ; and that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, 
is separately another God or person, a third 
person in the Trinity. Such a doctrine, I most 
boldly say, cannot be supported at all by any 



HIS SON AND HOLY SPIRIT. 171 

expressed evidence of the Word of God, or by 
the dictates of nature and reason. I can see 
no way to sustain this doctrine without reject- 
ing the whole testimony of God and his Son, 
or making- them liars or deceivers by declaring 
falsehoods, or withholding truths. Still, I be- 
lieve, the advocates of this doctrine see, or 
think they see, their way clearly; I will not, I 
dare not presume to condemn them or judge 
them, lest I should do it wrongfully. Let the 
righteous Judge of all the earth, alone, decide 
their case and ours. And may we all, through 
his mercy and love, be acquitted, and received 
into his holy kingdom! 

But let it be understood — in one word I say 
all — I do not condemn or reject any professed 
Christian of any denomination, for opinions^ sake. 
I only wish them to try to be fully conformed 
to the Word of God and the laws of nature and 
reason, with abundance of charity and good- 
will towards all men; to read and study the 
Bible more, and human invented creeds less; 
to live the life of Christ and love, and not of 
controversy and uncharitableness. 

Great opposition to the views I have taken 
has arisen, I believe, from a prejudice that 
exists against the name of unitarian ; and our 



172 TPIE SUPREME GOD, 

opponents seem to have endeavored to make 
that name unpopular. But this is very un- 
reasonable in them; for the name is founded 
and derived entirely upon a belief and adoption 
of the unity of God. And all the opponents, 
all the so-called orthodox, profess to believe 
and hold to the unity of God: so they are, in 
fact, (though not nominally,) unitarians; but 
their unity is clouded, totally eclipsed by their 
mysterious, unscriptural, and naturally impos- 
sible to be true, trinity in unity. I do not wish 
them to change their name or denomination to 
unitarian. I only desire that they would exa- 
mine candidly the essential, fundamental doc- 
trines of unitarians, to see if they accord with 
the Holy Scriptures, which I believe they fully 
do; and I trust that such will be the decision 
of the righteous Judge of all the earth. A name 
is nothing worth, unless it embraces ^* the truth 
as it is in Jesus." We should not trust at all 
in names, but wholly in the goodness, and love, 
and mercy, of God and of Christ. 

** God is not a being who requires to be wor- 
shiped by men's hands, as though he needs any* 
thing. Unitarians, I am satisfied, do not con- 
sider him such a being ; and what do we 
understand that he requires of us, but to do 



HIS SON AND HOLY SPIRIT. 173 

justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly 
with him. He says, *' I will have mercy^ and 
not sacrifice ;^^ compassion, kindness, benevo 
lence towards one another, and not vain at- 
tempts to please his eye and his ear^ as if he were 
a poor, vain man, or rather a child, to be tickled 
with tinsel and glitter. To love him with all 
the mind, soul and strength, and our neighbors 
as ourselves, is, we are assured, better than all 
burnt-offerings and sacrifices. In the view of 
such a Being, how infinitely superior must ap- 
pear the spontaneous out-gushings of hearts 
overflowing wath affection, gratitude, obedience, 
and humility, to the cold, vain repetitions of a 
formal service! 

''I never could understand the use of a book 
even in a liturgical worship, excepting for child- 
ren and other learners. My own memory was 
never very extraordinary, nor was I ever a 
regular attendant on the Episcopal service ; yet 
I can even now, after hearing the first word, 
repeat almost every sentence. I am sure, then, 
that persons who have been in this habit for 
years must be able to repeat every word with- 
out a book. 

''There is one disadvantage attending a form 
of prayer. It becomes a mechanical operation 
15 



174 THE SUPREME GOD, 

of the mind; and while the lips enunciate the 
words with due precision and reverence, the 
mind is apt to wander and to dwell on other 
things; as it is with a skillful musician, who 
can play the most difficult piece of music, and 
at the same time think and sometimes converse 
rationally on other topics. 

*^And what are the benefits which it is sup» 
posed may be derived from a liturgical form of 
worship ? Promotion of spiritual vitality will 
certainly not be claimed. If accessions of num- 
bers be the thing, we would (%) better without 
accessions gained only by such means; but if 
we compare those sects that have cast aside the 
liturgical form and returned to the example of 
Christ and his apostles, with those who adhere 
to a form, we will see that in point of numbers, 
wherever equality of rights is allov^ed by law, 
the advantage is greatly on the side of the 
former. 

''A form is recommended because it was prac- 
ticed for many centuries in the church. It was 
practiced in the days of the power, and corrup- 
tion, and wickedness, and intolerance of thz 
church. But if there is truth in the best his- 
tory of the church of Christy it was not so in 
the beginning — in those days when the Messiah, 



HIS SON AND HOLY SPIRIT. IT 5 

and after Mm his apostles, held their churches 
in hired rooms, in private houses, in the 
fields, and barns, and caves, nor once coveted 
the gorgeous temple service of Jews or 
Gentiles." 



TSOLfGHTS m THE SUPPOSED 
TRLMTY OR Tm-UNITY OF GOD. 



It is acknowledged, and it is fully agreed by 
all denominations of Christians, that this doc- 
trine is not clearly, expressly taught, or laid 
down, or even once named in the Holy Scrip- 
tures. I am aware, however, that the advo- 
cates of this doctrine attempt to support it by 
implication or by presumptive evidence. But 
it is an established rule and law of evidence^ 
that no implied, presumptive, or merely proba- 
ble evidence can be admitted to control, con- 
tradict, or set aside clear, positive, infallible 
testimony. And we have the full, positive, in- 
fallible testimony of God and of Christ to dis- 
prove this dogma. God, in his holy Word, has 
solemnly proclaimed of himself, ^*I alone am 
God, and there is none else; there is none be- 
sides me; there is none with me; I am the Al- 
mighty God; there is no God like mel" And 
his Son, our blessed Saviour, the faithful and 
true witness, solemnly taught the same import- 



TRINITY OR TRI-UNITY OF GOD. lit 

ant truth. In his ardent prayer to God, his 
Father, he expressly said: "This is life eternal, 
to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus 
Christ whom thou hast sent." And we might 
add, if necessary, the express testimony of the 
inspired Apostle Paul, who affirmed: ''That to 
us (Christians) there is but one God, the Fa- 
ther^ and one Lord Jesus Christ," who, he re- 
peatedly declared, was the Son of God, and not 
the supreme God. We may, therefore, safely 
affirm that there is no satisfactory evidence at 
all in the Bible to support this human invent- 
ed hypothesis. But as there may be some who 
do not make the Bible the sole rule of faith and 
practice, it will be well seriously to consider if 
this doctrine can be supported by the light or 
dictates of nature, reason and common sense. 
Upon this point we have full negative proof; 
for it must be acknowledged that in all the 
works and providence of God, we cannot find 
one creature, or being, or thing, that possesses 
trinity or tri-unity of nature or character.; but 
every being and thing in its mode of existence 
is like its Creator — unity. 

I make no great objection to trinitarianism, 
or the orthodox doctrines of the church that 
were always held before the fourth or fifth cen- 
15* 



1T8 THOUGHTS ON THE SUPPOSED 

turies. Before that time, all the fathers of the 
church, all professed Christians, following Je- 
sus Christ and his apostles in this, taught 
clearly that God the Father was the only true, 
supreme. Almighty God, and that Jesus Christ 
was the Son of God, or as they expressed it, 
and as it is in the Nicene creed, God the Son, 
or God of God, very God of very God,'^ which 
is in substance the same, or means the same. 
According to tliem the Spirit was the Spirit of 
God Almighty. This was, then, true orthodoxy 
— ^was evangelical — and it wanted only the 
name to make it, in substance, true Unitarian- 
ism. This doctrine of the trinity, as now held 
by some, should be analyzed to be fully under- 
stood. Its advocates say, that (entirely con- 
trary to what God has solemnly proclaimed of 
himself, that he ^* alone is God, and there is 
none else^^) it means that God is three, or three 
persons (it must be Gods) in one God; that God 
the Father is the first person, or God; that God 
the Son is the second person, or God; and that 
God the Holy Spirit is the third person, or God; 
that each person or God is equal with the 
other, and supreme and almighty. This must 
mean, if it can mean anything, that there are 
three equal Gods in one God; for the word per- 



TRINIfY OR TRI-UNITY OF GOD. 179 

son is never once used in the Bible, or in any- 
other book, but to signify an intelligent being. 
God himself is said to be a person. We read 
that Christ is the ''express image of his 
(God's) person,'' of God himself, and the word 
person here cannot be supposed to refer to any- 
other intelligent being but God himself. 

I cannot, therefore, upon full investigation, 
consider this hypothesis, when fully analyzed, 
as anything but a palpable contradiction or a 
natural impossibility ; for that three can be 
one, or one can be three, or that the Father, and 
his Son, and his Holy Spirit can all be one 
and the same person, or God, or that any 
father can be his own son, or that any son can 
be his own father, or that the spirit of any 
person can be another or third person, different 
from him to whom it belongs — such supposi- 
tions are all palpable contradictions and natu- 
ral impossibilities. 

Still, I do not take this view of the subject 
for the purpose of condemning* any denomina- 
tion of Christians. I have full charity and 
good-will towards the advocates of this doc- 
trine, and can fellowship and worship with 
them, because I consider them sincere, and 
because I do not believe it (if true) a funda- 



180 ■mouGars on the supposed 

mental or essential doctrine ; but, at most, 
only a non-essential dogma, the belief or re- 
jection of which will have no effect upon the 
salvation of the soul or the approbation of 
God. 

But it may be asked, What are fundamental 
and essential doctrines, and what are not so ? 
I consider that all which God has expressly, 
plainly commanded or revealed, and all that 
Christ has so taught, is fundamental and essen- 
tial ; and whatever God has not in any way 
expressly commanded or revealed, and what 
Christ has not so taught, cannot be funda- 
mental or essential ; for I cannot believe that 
our all-wise, benevolent Father has omitted to 
command and expressly reveal to us every- 
thing that he requires of us, and what is neces- 
sary for us to believe or to do ; or that our 
blessed Saviour, who came into the world ex- 
pressly to teach and to save men, and to de- 
clare the truth — I say I cannot believe that he 
omitted to fulfil, in every respect, his gracious, 
high office of love to men; or that he neglected 
to teach anything that is essential to their 
salvation. And I fully believe that all the dis- 
agreements, controversies and disputes among 
different denominations of Christians, are upon 



TRINITY OR TRI-UNITY OF GOD, 181 

doctrines and points that are not fundamental 
nor essential. I can, therefore, see no good 
reasons why all Christians of all denominations 
should not be united, and fellowshijp, and com- 
mune, and worship together in love and har- 
mony. Have they not all one common God 
and Father? Do they not all acknowledge, 
and receive into their hearts with faith and 
love, the same blessed Saviour of all ? And 
do they not all believe that there is, and ever 
will be, in heaven, but one great, glorious and 
harmonious church of Christ and of God ? 
And why will they not try to begin and prac- 
tice heaven here, so that they may the better 
enjoy it hereafter to perfection, under the im- 
mediate care and blessing of their glorified 
Lord and Master, Jesus Christ ? 



THOUGHTS ON EVANGELICALISM. 



What is evangelicalism ? It is the faith once 
delivered to the saints — it is the whole Gospel 
of Christ, as recorded by the four Evangelists; 
U embraces all the commands and directions of 
God, all the teachings, life, sufferings and death 
of Christ, and all the duties and requirements 
of men. All Christians of this character, what- 
ever may be their name, denomination, or 
creeds, are evangelical and orthodox ; and 
there can be no reason for any denomination 
or denominations of Christians to claim to be 
or to be called exclusively evangelical. All 
Christians, both trinitarians and unitarians, who 
are of this character, are evangelical and ortho- 
dox ; and it is uncharitable, it is wicked for 
one denomination, unjustly, to accuse another 
of not being evangelical. 

The trinitarians will not allow that the uni- 
tarians are evangelical or orthodox. But of the 
two sects, it appears to me that the unitarians 
are the most evangelical and the most truly 



THOUaHTS ON EVANGELICALISM. 183 

orthodox; because they believe and hold to no- 
thing but what is recorded in the Evangelists, 
and what was always orthodox before the fourth 
century; whereas the trinitarians hold to some 
things, some dogmas, that cannot be found in 
either of the Evangelists, or in any writings 
before the third or fourth century. 

And I think that the unitarians should always 
have been, and should now be considered evan- 
gelical and orthodox; and their churches should 
be called evangelical, unitarian churches, main- 
ly of the orthodox faith. But they must claim 
nothing exclusively: whatever they claim to 
be, or to be called, they must allow all other 
denominations and Christians to be, and to be 
called. For all Christians of all denominations 
are Christ's begotten sons and daughters, and 
should all be of one m.ind and one heart, as they 
all profess to believe in the one Gospel of Christ, 

Christ prayed to his Father that all his dia- 
cipes might be as one, united in love and har- 
mony. 0, may such a happy, glorious day 
soon arrive 1 



LECTURE ON HUMAN NATURE, 



SUPPOSED NATIVE AND TOTAL DEPRAVITY OF IT, 



What is human nature, or the nature of man ? 
It is the essence of all that man is. It em- 
braces all his powers, capacities, and attributes. 
It is a oneness, though it is complex. It is 
partly animal and fleshly, and partly spiritual, 
moral, and religious. The parents are the in- 
struments to produce the animal and fleshly 
part; but the spiritual part, I conceive, is the 
entire gift or bestowment of God, the holy in- 
spiration of the Almighty. I cannot believe 
that the parents are the effectual instruments 
to produce the spiritual part of the nature. 
What! can mortal men produce immortal souls ? 
can they create a real, spiritual image and 
likeness of God, such as he gave to our first 
parents? No; I think not. It is God^s sole 
prerogative. 



SUPPOSED DEPRAVITY OF HUMAN NATURE. 186 

But when, at what time, he gives to or be- 
stows upon our race this spiritual part of 
nature, this divine soul, we cannot tell. Could 
it be in the womb before birth, or immediately 
after, or during infancy, or before they could 
have any knowledge of good and evil ? I should 
think it could not be; because they would be 
incapable of receiving such a divine gift, or of 
knowing its infinite value: so it could be of no 
use to them; and God never bestows anything 
when it cannot be beneficial to the receiver. 

From this view, we must conclude that there 
can be no such thing as native depravity, either 
total, or in any degree; for depravity, or wick- 
edness, must apply only to the spirit or soul 
of man, and not to the animal or fleshly part of 
his nature. We do not say of any one, that his 
hand, or his foot, or his whole body, is depraved; 
but w^e may say that his whole heart and soul 
are depraved and very wicked, while his whole 
body is only deformed or imperfect. 

And we must further conclude, that no per- 
son can be at all depraved while in infancy, or 
before he is capable of knowing good and evil. 
An idiot cannot be depraved, any more than a 
child in the womb, or when first born; because 
he is incapable of knowing good and evil, or 
16 



186 SUPPOSED NATIVE AND TOTAL 

virtue and vice. But we need not enlarge 
upon this point of native depravity, which is 
not now much controverted, but will come to 
something more important, but much to be 
lamented. 

We know that there is great depravity, wick- 
edness and corruption in the world. And 
whence comes it — be it total or less ? Is it 
from God, or by his decree, or by the inventions 
of men? Solomon, who was wiser than all 
men, gives us the truth of the matter. After 
declaring that God hath made men upright — 
innocent, he says; that '^they, (after becoming- 
capable of knowing good and evil, virtue and 
vice,) have sought out many inventions," wick- 
ed, corrupt, unholy inventions — such as dis- 
obedience to God's laws and commands, neglect 
of all duty, irreverence towards God, unkind- 
ness to men, violation of their rights, and ini- 
quity and injustice of every name or nature: 
these are the foolish and wicked inventions and 
devices of men, which cause depravity in them, 
and lead them to pervert and to violate their 
originally divine, upright natures, and to stifle 
all holy influence. It is not an originally de- 
praved nature that impels men to sin; but it is 
something contrary to that nature which God 



DEPRAVITY OF HUMAN NATURE. 18*1 

has given them. It is their own evil propen- 
sities, lusts, and ambition, that entice and 
plunge them into it. Depravity consists not 
in what God has bestowed on men, but in what 
men have done for themselves. 

But while we conclude that all men are more 
or less depraved and sinful, for 'Hhere is no 
man that liveth and sinneth not," yet we must 
protest against the doctrine, that all men, even 
the best of men, are totally depraved and wick- 
ed, and wholly by nature inclined to evil, and 
utterly incapable of doing any good; or that 
infants, before they have the knowledge of 
good and evil, of virtue and vice, are at all 
depraved or sinful. The Word of God and 
our reason and experience reject such a doc- 
trine. We believe that there have been many 
men who were not, and we hape that there are 
now an innumerable number that are not 
totally^ if at all, depraved. We cannot believe 
that Abel, whose offering God accepted; or 
that Noah, who, in obedience to the direction 
of God, built the ark; or that Abraham, w^ho, 
in obedience to God's command, was ready and 
willing to sacrifice his son Isaac; or Isaac and 
Jacob, the faithful servants of God; or Joseph, 
who was a faithful and true worshiper of his 



188 'supposed native and total 

God, a dutiful son to his own father, a kind 
and forgiving brother to his own wicked bro- 
thers, and who was a greatly beneficial agent 
for his country and people; or that Moses, who 
delivered the children of Israel from Egyptian 
bondage; or David, the king, who was said to 
be a man ''after God's own heart;" or all the 
true prophets of the Lord, or the apostles of 
Jesus Christ — I say, we cannot believe that 
these, and a vast many more that might be 
nximed, were all, or any of them, totally de- 
praved, if at all so. And if we come to modern 
thnes, and in christianized states, and in^ our 
ow^n country, w^e believe that there have been, 
and we trust and hope that there now are, many, 
a vast number, an innumerable number of per- 
sons that were not and that are not totally, if 
at all, depraved. Though it may seem that 
there were and are some instances of de- 
pravity and sinfulness in most of the best of 
men; but that does not prove that all men, or 
any men, are t(.tally depraved and wicked, and 
wholly inclined to evil, and utterly incapable of 
ever doing any good; or that infants or child- 
ren, before they can have any knowledge of 
good and evil, of virtue and vice, can be at all 
depraved; or that they can never become able 
to do any good, or to love God and men. 



DEPRAVITY OF HUMAN NATURE. 189 

I would not argue that there is no depravity 
or sinfulness in the hearts of men, or most 
men. I would consider men as they are — im- 
perfect, sinful creatures, capable of good and 
evil. My position is, that men are neither 
totally depraved and sinful, nor totally good and 
sinless; and that God made them free agents, 
capable of doing good or of doing evil, but that 
infants or children, before they can obtain 
knowledge of good and evil, and idiots, are 
incapable of doing either. 

The commonly received dogma of native, 
total depravity of human nature is a libel 
upon mankind, and a false, vv'icked accusation 
of the true, holy God ; for it makes man like 
the devil, or worse, and God the creator and 
establisher of human depravity and wicked- 
ness. But all nature, reason and common 
sense, and the Word of God, and the testimony 
of Jesus, the faithful and true Witness, teach 
that this dogma cannot be true ; for if it were, 
and if, as the dogma teaches, all men are by 
nature totally depraved, wholly inclined to evil, 
and utterly incapable of doing any good, then 
nothing would be found in the world but gross 
wickedness — nothing but contention, quarrels, 
fighting, murders : parents would kill their 
16* 



190 SUPPOSED NATIVE AND TOTAL 

children, and children would murder their pa- 
rents, and all kind of iniquity would be domi- 
nant. But on the contrary, we know that 
among men, though sinful, yet much good has 
been and is done ; much friendship displayed, 
and much love to God and men has and does 
appear in the world — (though infinitely less 
than what is due to the great Benefactor of 
mankind) — all which could not have been the 
case, if all men, from infancy, had been totally 
depraved, wholly inclined to evil, and utterly 
incapable of doing any good. 

Jesus Christ, a perfect teacher sent from 
God, the faithful and true Witness, has fully 
disproved this dogma. He asked the Jews, 
'<■ Why, even of yourselves, judge ye not what 
is right and acceptable to God ?" Clearly 
implying that they were capable of judging and 
doing what was right and agreeable to the 
will of God. And to the morally good scribe 
he said, ^' Thou art not far from the kingdom 
of heaven" — you are on the way, and God 
may admit you in when you come to the gate, 
which is open to all my true disciples. 

And his conversation and treatment of little 
children clearly show that he considered them 
not depraved, but innocent and sinless ; for he 



DEPRAVITY OF HUMAN NATURE. 191 

said, '^ Suffer little children to come unto me, 
and forbid them nof — I am delighted to see 
them, for '' of such is the kingdom of heaven f 
therefore they could not be depraved ; for no 
depraved, unholy thing can enter there, or be 
taken into the arms of the blessed Jesus. 

And many of Christ^s declarations clearly 
prove that men are not by nature totally de- 
praved and wholly inclined to evil ; that they 
are capable of being and doing good — of 
pleasing God and loving one another. 

Now, to conclude, let us consider men as 
they are — neither totally depraved nor totally 
righteous ; free agents, capable of doing good 
and of doing evil. And let us constantly pray 
to God to enable us, with the aid of his Holy 
Spirit, to make them better, and more accept- 
able to Him who is ^' the Giver of every good 
gift.'' 



A THANKSGIVING SERMON. 

THE GOODNESS OF GOD DEMANDS THANK- 
FULNESS IN MEN. 



' O, ta te and see that the Lord is good." — Psalm xxxiv. 8. 

Of all the perfect, great, benevolent, glo- 
rious attributes of God, none is more soul- 
reviving, more heart-melting, more adorable, 
than his unbounded goodness. And a right, 
true, perfect, cordial knowledge of the great 
goodness of God, is the most precious know- 
ledge that can be acquired by men, by intelli- 
gent, accountable creatures — creatures who 
are made capable of enjoying happiness, and 
of knowing what is right and good, and what 
will be acceptable to their Creator. And this 
knowledge is easily obtained. It requires not 
even primary schools, nor academies, nor col- 
leges, nor learned masters or doctors, nor 
creeds or catechisms, to teach it. All nature 
is its teacher — all the works of God loudly 



A THANK SGIYING SERMON. 193 

proclaim it — all his providence fnlly reveals 
it, and his holy Word makes it sure and 
steadfast. The pions David was constantly, 
devoutly impressed with a deep sense of God's 
goodness. He often ardently, devoutly ex- 
claimed : '' 0, that men would praise the Lord 
for his goodness, and for his wonderful works 
to the children of men !" " 0, give thanks 
unto tne Lord, for he is good !" " 0, taste and 
see that the Lord is good V^- — and many such 
devout exclamations may be found in his 
Psalms. 

But this true knowledge of the goodness of 
God is not a -mere speculative knowledge — 
it is not a knowledge that is acquired by 
mathematical demonstration — it is not a know- 
ledge that is obtained only in the schools of 
science and philosophy, or in theological insti- 
tutions, or by geometrical or algebraical pro- 
cesses ; but it is a knowledge that orighiatcs 
in the pious heart, is taught by tlie Spirit of 
Christ, perfected by love and devotion to God, 
obedience to his commands, and by lioliness 
of life. 

The goodness of God is unbounded — it ex- 
tends to all his creatures, but more especially 
to his intelligent creatures — to the high and 



194 A THANKSGIVING SERMON. 

the low, the rich and the poor, the bond and 
the free, the prosperous and the destitute, the 
well and the sick, the joyful and the sorrowful, 
the happy and the af&icted — to all ranks, or- 
ders and conditions of men. It is not exclu- 
sive, it is not temporary — it is boundless as 
the universe, eternal as Jehovah. We cannot 
enumerate a thousandth part of the acts and 
manifestations of God^s goodness. They are 
more than the sands upon the sea-shore, or the 
drops of the ocean — they are infinitely innu- 
merable ; yet, with gratitude, devotion and 
adoration, we may well and delightfully medi- 
tate and dwell upon many of the most precious 
and glorious manifestations of the goodness 
of God. 

The goodness of God is manifested not only 
in his greatest and most wonderful works of 
creation and providence, but also in the small- 
est affairs of the universe — all nature is full 
of it ! His goodness, as well as his power 
and wisdom, most wonderfully appears in his 
creating almost innumerable suns of immense 
magnitude and power, and placing them sta- 
tionary, in infinite space, with no foundation 
to rest on but his almighty power, in the centre 
of their systems, there to regulate and control 



A THANKSGIVING SERMON. 195 

the planetary worlds by which they are sur- 
rounded, and which regularly and safely re- 
volve round their suns in their established 
orbits, agreeably to his fixed laws of nature, 
without danger of destruction by rushing to- 
gether, or into their suns, or of flying off from 
their courses into an infinite space of chaos 
and darkness! and all which planetary worlds, 
we trust, the goodness of God has peopled 
with innumerable intelligent, happy beings — 
all, like us, " tasting and seeing that the Lord 
is good.'' But we need not go to worlds un- 
known to discover the goodness of God. We 
will come to our planetary system, to our 
world, of which we know and see most. Here 
are infinitely more manifestations of the good- 
ness of God, than finite men can enumerate or 
comprehend. We must acknowledge the infi- 
nite goodness and wisdom of the Creator, in 
fixing and regulating the earth so that it does 
not rush into the sun, or upon the other plan- 
ets, or fly off from its orbit into infinite space. 
And we must acknowledge the great goodness 
and power of God, in his creating and fixing 
in the centre of our system a mighty, glorious, 
powerful sun, to regulate and govern the 
planets, to enlighten and warm them, and to 



196 A THANKSGIVING SERMON. 

cause, sustain and produce life and vegeta- 
tion — and in his forming and fitting the earth 
for human habitation and use, when it "was 
without form and void" — when "darkness was 
upon the face of the deep," and " God said, 
Let there be light ! and there was light ;" 
and when the waters and the land were in a 
state of chaos and confusion, " and God said, 
Let the waters under the heavens be gathered 
together into one place, and let the dry land 
appear ; and it was so ;" and when God 
placed the greater and the lesser lights in the 
firmament of heaven ; and when he created all 
the irrational animals, and all inanimate things 
which were intended for the use of man. 
What a wonderful manifestation of the great 
goodness of God designed for men 1 

But, more especially, do we taste and see the 
precious goodness of God in our own creation 
— in the formation of our bodies, with nume- 
rous, various, mysterious properties and capa- 
cities — in our growth and strength — in our 
ability for action, motion, seeing, hearing, 
speaking, tasting, feeling — in animal enjoyment 
and pleasure — in a natural desire to partake of 
those things which will sustain and prolong 
our lives, which things the goodness of our 



A THANKSGIVING SERMON. 197 

heaveDly Father has provided for us; for he 
made this world, and all the irrational creatures 
and inanimate things in it, at least, principally 
for our use and benefit; thereby amply provid- 
ing everything necessary for our support and 
comfort. 

But vastly more do we perceive and feel the 
great goodness of our Creator, in his constitut- 
ing us rational, intelligent creatures — in giving 
us capacities for intellectual joy and happiness 
— in making us capable of loving, worshiping 
and serving him; of being, in some measure, 
like him, and of holding spiritual communion 
with the Father of our spirits; also, of loving 
and doing good to our fellow-men, and of caus- 
ing and enjoying much mutual happiness — in 
his creating men male and female, designed for 
pure, mutual, reciprocal, connubial love, joy, 
and delight — in giving them interesting, lovely 
children, to be the delight of their eyes, the joy 
of their hearts, and the comfort of their lives 
— and in establishing paternal attachment, filial 
affection, and fraternal love, and friendship — 
all which are the effects of the goodness of 
God. 

I believe that such was the goodness and 
benevolence of the Creator, that when he made 
17 



198 A THANKSGIVING SERMON. 

man, he designed that he and all his posterity 
should be happy; or, at least, that they should 
be capable of being so if they would rightly 
use and improve the means and capacities he 
had given them for the purpose. I have such 
an exalted view of the benevolent character of 
the all-wise, all-merciful Father of the universe, 
that I cannot possibly believe that he has de- 
creed or designed that any of the posterity of 
Adam should be miserable, and lie under the 
wrath and curse of God for ever, on account of 
Adam's transgression, I believe that such is 
not only the goodness but also the justice of 
God, that he will never punish one man for the 
sin of another. 

But we are told that, in process of time, *' God 
saw that the wickedness of man was great in 
the earth, and that every imagination of the 
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually 
— ^that the earth was corrupt before God and 
full of violence;" so that the Lord said, "I will 
destroy man from off the face of the earth, and 
everything that is in the earth shall die." 
Yet we see the great goodness of God in ex- 
cepting and saving Noah and his family from 
the general destruction, and thereby preserving 
the human race from total extinction; and in 



A THANKSGIVING SERMON. 199 

his afterwards blessing Noali and his sons, and 
bidding them to increase and multiply, and 
replenish the earth. 

And, afterwards, we see the goodness of God 
in raising up Abraham, the faithful, to be the 
father of his chosen people, from whom he 
promised that ''one should arise in whom all 
the families of the earth should be blessed.'' 
And we see the good providence of God, (for 
^' God meant it for good,'') when Joseph's 
brethren sold him into Egypt; as, in conse- 
quence thereof, the children of Israel, God's 
chosen people, were saved from destruction by 
famine, and made to increase and prosper 
mightily. And when the children of Israel were 
afterwards cruelly oppressed by Pharaoh, we 
learn the special goodness of God, in raising 
up Moses to be their great deliverer from 
Egyptian bondage and oppression; miracu- 
lously to conduct them through the Red Sea 
and the wilderness; and in the most wonderful 
manner to be called up to the top of Mount 
Sinai, in the midst of the thick cloud, the thun- 
der, and the lightning, and there to talk with 
God, and to receive from him the law and the 
commandments. 

And the wonderful goodness of God appears 



200 A THANKSGIVING SERMON. 

in his giving us, tlirougli Moses and the -Pro- 
phets, the Old Testament, his holy Word and 
Revelation, which largely proclaims his good- 
ness and all his glorious attributes, and points 
out our duty towards him and towards our fel- 
lows-men. 

And we see the goodness of God, especially, 
to the children of Israel, in raising up holy 
David to sit on the throne of Israel, and to be 
a tjY^e and the ancestor of Christ, the Saviour. 

But above all things should we taste, see, 
and feel the inestimable goodness of God, in 
his benevolent provision for our everlasting 
happiness — for his great and glorious plan of 
redemption and salvation — for his infinite love 
to men, displayed in his sending his beloved 
Son from the throne of his glory, from the 
bosom of his love, from all the joys and glories 
of heaven, into this sinful world — here to un- 
fold and clearly reveal the perfect, glorious, 
merciful, forgiving character of his Father — 
here to teach, instruct, and persuade sinners 
to repent, reform, and become reconciled to 
their kind Father in heaven — and here to be 
cruelly treated, mocked, crowned with thorns, ^ 
and to die on the cross, that sinners might live 
for ever ! Must not such amazing, infinite 



A THANKSGIVING SERMON. 201 

goodness of our lieavenly Father, displayed for 
the salvation of the world, soften, melt to love 
and gratitude, the cold, ungrateful hearts of all 
the intelligent creatures of God upon earth, 
and persuade them to call upon their whole 
souls, and all that is within them, " to taste 
and see that the Lord is good ?" 

But, though this was the greatest, the most 
Vv^onderful manifestation of the goodness of 
God to men, yet it was not the last — it did not 
exhaust the infinite fountain of his goodness 
and love; for since there have issued from it 
perpetual, delightful streams of goodness and 
mercy. God's goodness, like himself, is ever- 
lasting — it can have no end — neither time nor 
eternity can bring it to a close. Since the 
resurrection of Christ, as vv^ell as before, we 
know that the constant goodness, care and 
superintendence of God have attended all his 
creatures and all his works; and his mercy still 
continues, and will endure for ever. Through 
the goodness of God, and his special, wise, 
protecting providence, both the Old and New 
Testaments have been preserved and handed 
down to us, not withstand hig all the changes, 
destructions, iniquity, and infidelity that have 
prevailed in the world. It seems to be truly 
17* 



202 A THANKSGIVING SERMON. 

miraculous, that while no writings so ancient 
as the Old Testament, and few as old as the 
ISiew Testament, are to be found, yet we have 
both the Old and New Testaments, as we trust, 
mostly in their original purity and divinity. 
This circumstance fully shows the great good- 
ness and superintendency of the great Ruler of 
the universe, and proves beyond a doubt that 
the Bible is the Word of God — that it was 
given by his inspiration, and by his goodness 
and overruling providence has been preserved 
and published in nearly all languages, and cir- 
culated over almost the whole world ; and we 
trust it will continue to circulate, and be to all 
people a guide, and a light which can never 
be extinguished, which earth and hell cannot 
destroy. 

Again : we see a precious manifestation of 
the goodness of our heavenly Father, in the 
spread and acceptance of the Gospel of Christ 
throughout a great part of the world, even 
against the most powerful opposition. Nothing 
but the power and goodness of God could have 
given it such a wonderful progress, and 
caused it to operate most powerfully upon the 
hearts and lives of men, and to still the tu- 
mults and contentions of nations. And we 



A THANKSGIVING SERMON. 203 

may fondly hope that the continued goodness 
of God will ere long cause this (lospel to make 
all men benevolent, peaceful, and " wise unto 
salvation;" that, being preached to all nations, 
people and languages, it will cause war, con- 
tention and all iniquity everywhere to cease ; 
and universal love, harmony and peace to 
prevail and continue throughout the whole 
world. 0, roll on, glorious event ! 

Again : we must not omit to notice the 
special goodness of God, in permitting, aiding 
and protecting our forefathers in leaving their 
native land and coming to and settling in this 
country, that they might enjoy civil and reli- 
gious liberty, at a time when they were un- 
justly deprived, at home, of the liberty of wor- 
shiping their God according to the dictates of 
their own consciences. Yes, it was the good- 
ness of God and his kind providence that pre- 
served, guided and directed our forefathers 
through the dangers, storms and tempests of 
the ocean, and, after -a long voyage, landed 
them, rejoicing, in this then savage wilderness. 
And then, it was the goodness of God that 
protected and sustained them through innu- 
merable dangers, difficulties and sufferings — 
defended them against savage wild beasts 



204 A THANKSGIVING SERMON. 

and more savage men, and at length made 
them strong, and powerful, and prosperous. 

And when the colonies were unjustly op- 
pressed, it was the goodness of God and the 
mighty arm of the Lord that enabled our 
fathers to contend successfully and victoriously 
for their rights and liberties against the 
mother country — that gave them a mighty 
deliverer, a Moses, in a Washington, to de- 
liver the American Israel from British op- 
pression — that enabled them '^to come off con- 
querors, and more than conquerors," through 
the goodness of God — and to establish their 
independence as a nation, to adopt the best 
form of government ii^ the world, to establish 
civil and religious liberty, to enact good and 
wholesome laws, and to cause prosperity and 
happiness to flow in gentle, powerful streams 
over the whole land ; all which were effected 
through the goodness and overruling power of 
Gjd ; for without his aid and blessing, men, 
his dependent creatures, can have no suc- 
cess — can do nothing effectually good or salu- 
tar^^ 

But we should not take a retrospective 
view only, of the goodness of our God ; but 
we should taste, and see, and feel, with inex- 



A THANKSGIVING SERMON. 205 

pressibie gratitude, his present goodness and 
mercy ; and we may well rejoice with joy 
unspeakable in the anticipation and hope of 
the continuance of his goodness, and for the 
enjoyment of that happiness hereafter which 
he has promised to all '^ those who love him 
and keep his commandments." 

The present goodness of God towards us as 
a natior. and people, as individuals, as citizens, 
and as Christians, wonderfully appears in all 
that we see and know. As a nation, through 
the goodness of God and his kind providence, 
we are blessed with the best form of govern- 
ment under heaven — we are respected by and 
at peace with all the nations of the earth. 

As a people at large, we should acknowledge 
the goodness of God in providing for us this 
good land, '' a land flowing with milk and 
honey," abounding with all the necessaries 
and comforts of life, producing enough and to 
spare — yea, more than enough to supply the 
wants of all its inhabitants and visitors, so 
that we are able to send immense quantities 
to the relief of the destitute and suffering of 
other countries. No people on earth have the 
means of producing such a superabundance 
of the necessaries and comforts of life as the 



206 A THANKSGIVING SERMON. 

United States have. And do we not know, 
are we not duly sensible, that all these means 
and blessings are the bestowment of the good- 
ness and kind providence of God, ^' the giver 
of every good gift V^ Will any one deny that 
it is he that makes our lands fertile ? that he 
sends his rain and sunshine to moisten and 
warm the earth, and cause the corn and all 
other vegetables to grow up to maturity ? that 
he is the Creator of the beasts of the field, and 
all animals and things intended for the use of 
man ? Will any one doubt that it is the good- 
ness of God which gives our people health 
and strength, and all the means and blessings 
necessary for the cultivation of the soil, and 
for the production of our most abundant 
crops? that ^'he makes the grass the moun- 
tains crown, and corn in valleys grow ?" 
that our people would praise the Lord for his 
goodness, his blessings, and his wonderful 
works to them ! 

But the fruits and productions of the earth 
are but a small part of the blessings and en- 
joyments which the goodness of God has be- 
stowed upon us. It has given us intellectual 
fruits and provisions — it has given us satisfy- 
ing food for the soul — it has enriched the mind 



A THANKSGIVING SERMON. 20^ 

with necessary science and nseful knowledge — 
it has bestowed npon us civil and religious 
liberty — it has given us the means and power 
of enjoying private, domestic, social and pub- 
lic happiness and comfort — it has made us 
capable not only of possessing happiness 
ourselves, but of communicating it, and be- 
stowing it upon our brethren and fellow-men — 
made us capable of leing good and doing 
good — it has given us his holy Word and the 
Gospel of his Son. 0, taste and see that the 
Lord is good !" 

* We, the people of the United States, see the 
great goodness of God in the religious privi- 
leges and blessings w^e enjoy. To almost all, 
even to the pocir, is the Gospel preached. No 
other nation has so great religious privileges. 
Nowhere else is there so great religious liberty, 
' (though it is sometimes abused by mistaken 
zealots.) Nowhere else is there so great tole- 
ration among professed Christians — though it 
is not so perfect as it should be, according to 
the doctrines of Christ. And nowhere is there 
less persecution of Christians — though some 
fragments of it yet remain, but not of the 
worst and most cruel kind ; for men are not 
nov^, here, tortured or burnt at the stake for 



208 A THANKSGIVING SERMON. 

their religious faith — nor, often, anathematized 
or excommunicated as heretics and unbe- 
lievers, because they cannot conscientiously 
believe agreeably to the dictates of some 
bigoted, uninspired men, or body of men ; nor 
are they now compelled, by force of law, to 
Tvorship their God in a manner contrary to his 
Word and the dictates of their own reason 
and consciences. And we have reason to re- 
joice in the goodness of God and the divine 
influence of his Holy Spirit, that truly liberal, 
charitable, Christian views and doctrines are 
evidently progressing and increasing amoifg 
almost all denominations of Christians. And 
we fondly hope that the goodness of God will 
ere long lead all men to true, repentance and 
reformation, and hasten the time when all de- 
nominations of Christians will, in love and 
harmony, be one in Christ, as he is one with 
the Father ; and when all shall supremely 
worship the Father alone, and with faith and 
love receive into their hearts his beloved Son 
as their only Lord and Saviour. 

But although we must be sensible that 
God^s goodness and mercy have followed us 
all our days, yet we have a better and more 
glorious joy and hope. From the benevolent, 



A THANKSGIVING SERMON. 209 

merciful and forgiving character of our Al- 
mighty Father, and from his promises to them 
that love him and keep his commandments, we 
have an ardent, encouraging hope, that when 
we have done with all the joys, comforts and 
blessings he has given us in this world, his 
goodness and mercy will admit us into his 
glorious kingdom above — there to unite with 
angels and glorified spirits in rapturous songs, 
anthems, and hallelujahs of praise and thanks- 
giving ^' to Him that sitteth upon the throne, 
and to the Lamb for ever and ever !!' 



18 



PURE RELIGION. 



••Pure religion in man, and undefiled before God and the 
Father, is this. To visit the fatherless and widows in 
their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from 
the world." — James, i. 27. 

The passage of Scripture I have just read to 
you naturally leads us to a serious considera- 
tion of what is pure religion and undefiled be- 
fore God the Father; and as we may often well 
ascertain what any thing is by determining 
what it is not, I will very brie% attempt to 
represent and show — 1, What is not pure reli- 
gion; and then affirmatively, 2, Wha,t is pure 
religion, and in what it does consist. 

1. Pure religion is not a mere form of godli- 
ness without the substance and power thereof. 
It consists not in cold, formal lip-service, when 
the heart is insensible, undevout, and far from 
God. It consists not in long, heartless prayers 
— in often hypocritically crying. Lord! Lordl 
while we do not the will of our Father in 
heaven. It consists not in an outward profes- 



PURE RELIGION. 211 

Bion of religion, without a practical performance 
of its duties towards God and men. It does 
not consist in the form or faith of creeds, cate- 
chisms, confessions of faith, ecclesiastical de- 
crees, or any dogmas of human invention, with* 
out the reception and love of the Gospel of 
Christ in the heart. It consists not in mere 
external rites and ceremonies, while the soul 
is unmoved by the ineffable love of God to men. 
It does not consist in formal, long", cold, un- 
devout prayers to God, ('' for pretense or to be 
seen of men,") withotit pure devotion of heart. 
It consists not, principally, in often fasting, 
with a sad countenance and disfigured face, 
(so as ^* to appear to men to fast,") while the 
heart is not humbled before God, and the life 
is not made better. It consists not in mere 
matters of theory, or speculative opinions; or 
in great excitement of the animal feelings, so 
as to produce apparent raptures of zeal for G-od; 
or in loud professions of love and good will to 
men, while the heart is unmoved by their sufter- 
ings and the hands are closed against their 
wants. It consists not in exciting* an unreason- 
able, awful fear of the wrath and vengeance of 
Almighty God, while his unbounded goodness, 
love and mercy are seldom named or thought 



212 PURE RELIGION.. 

of. Pure religion never gives up reason and 
common sense to imagination and enthusiasm, 
nor permits the creeds or traditions of men to 
control the Word of God. It consists not in 
constant gloomy contemplations ; in mysterious, 
unintelligible conversations; in mere noise; in 
bodily sighing, weeping, and groaning about 
our sins, while our hearts and lives are not 
made better thereby. It does not consist in 
boasting of our ovvm good works, or in thanking 
God ''that we are not as other men;" or in 
trusting in ourselves that we are righteous, 
and condemning others ; or in having assurance 
of our own infallibility, and denouncing, as 
heretics and unbelievers, all of a different faith 
or creed. It cannot live in sectarian exclusive- 
ness — it cannot exist without charity, with- 
out love and communion with one another. 
Then, 

2. What is pure religion, and in what does 
it and must it consist ? 

The Apostle James has told us, (at least, in 
part,) that '' Pure religion and undefiled before 
God the Father is this, To visit the fatherless 
and widows in their affliction, and to keep one's 
self unspotted from the world." 

But what does the apostle mean, by visiting 



PURE RELIGION. 213 

the fatherless and widows in their afflictions ? 
To visit, or visiting, has different significations. 
Sometimes it meany to afflict, to give pain, to 
cause grief or sorrow, or some personal evil. 
But it cannot be that James had reference to 
such a kind of visit. What! could the apostle 
recommend an afflictive visit to the afflicted — 
a sorrowful visit to the sorrowful — an unpro- 
fitable visit to the needy ? No, There could 
be no pure religion in such a visit — it would be 
an irreligious, an unchristian, an unkind visit. 
But did the apostle mean that we should only 
make a formal, cold, heartless visit — just call 
and leave our card; or, if we should find them 
suffering with hunger and cold, and destitute 
of the comforts of life and the means of grace, 
that we should only say to them, '' Be ye filled, 
be ye warmed/^ be all your wants supplied — 
and then wish them well, and leave them, with 
our hearts unmoved at their sufierings and our 
hands unopened to their wants ? Such a visit 
would be nothing like pure religion, nothing 
like a Christian visit ; and the apostle could 
not have had reference to such a kind of visit. 
What kind of visit, then, did James mean to 
recommend ? It w^as a friendly visit, a bene- 
volent visit, a useful visit, a sympathetic visit, 
18* 



214 PURE RELIGION. 

a Samaritan visit, a Christian visit, a God-like 
visit — such visits as Christ constantly made 
while on earth. 

We should visit the fatherless and widows 
in their afflictions, and all others in want, with 
warm hearts and open hands. We should not 
only wish them well, but do them good — bind 
up their wounded spirits, pouring in the oil and 
wine of divine consolation, bestowing upon 
them our own money and comforts, if necessary 
— take care of them, and come again, and do 
for them what further they may need. Such is 
the visiting which is '^ pure religion and unde- 
filed before God the Fatlier.'^ 

But this is not all we have to do to be pure- 
ly religious; for we are to ''keep ourselves un- 
spotted from the world -/^ that is, we must be 
free from all the prevailing sins, iniquities, and 
impurities of the world — we must practice jus- 
tice, benevolence, goodness, and all the moral 
virtues, and perform all the moral duties of life. 
These constitute at least a part of pure reli- 
gion. 

But here I must observe, that some very 
pious, some perhaps overmuch righteous di- 
vines maintain, that moral virtues and moral 
duties are not religion. But James did not 



PURE RELIGION. 215 

gay so — none of the apostles ever said so — 
Christ Jesus, while on earth, never so taught. 
No preacher, no minister of any sect or deno- 
mination ever taught or preached so much 
pure morality as Jesus Christ did. His first, 
his pure, his beautiful, divine sermon on the 
mountain is full of moral doctrines; and all his 
discourses strongly urge the observance of 
moral laws and the performance of moral du- 
ties. And will any one presume to accuse Jesus 
Christ, who spake as never man spake, who 
taught as one having authority, who was a per- 
fect teacher sent from God — will any one dare 
to accuse him of not preaching religion ? Then 
let no one denounce his humble imitators. 

I agree, however, that mere external moral 
virtues and moral duties are not the whole of 
religion: they are but a part thereof — com- 
paratively a small part; they are but the fruits 
of holiness — the branches of the great spiritual 
tree of eternal life — the streams that flow from 
the infinite, inexhaustible fountain of divine 
love and goodness. But piety towards God, 
supreme love to God, with faith in his Son, our 
Mediator and Saviour, a cordial reception of 
his doctrines, and love to our neighbors, these 
are the only foundation, the great, first, moving 



216 PURE RELIGION. 

principle of all religion and of all duty. With- 
out these, the fruits aforesaid would perish, the 
branches v/ ould wither and die, the streams 
would be dried up, and all religion and holiness 
would be dead, all enjoyment and happiness 
would be annihilated, and all hopes. of future 
joys would be for ever blasted. 

It is a reverential, supreme love to God 
that makes a religious heart — that makes a 
Christian — that forms the soul for devotion and 
adoration-r-that leads to the performance of 
our duty towards our God and our fellow-men 
— that creates and sweetens all the joys of 
life and brightens all the hopes of future bliss. 
Without love to God there could be no holiness, 
no liappiness on earth or in heaven. Without 
it the angels around the throne of God could 
not be happy, but would be most miserable; 
they would not he angels — they would be devils. 
Without love to God, his most precious gifts 
would be no blessings at all, but rather an ag- 
gravation, a torment; because we should not 
be capable of enjoying the rich favors granted. 

It is love to God that gives the soul (if I 
may so speak) a taste, a relish, for spiritual 
food, and the power of digesting and making 
it useful — it is to the soul what food is to the 



PURE RELIGION. 21*1 

body. Without food the body would languish 
and die; so, without love to God in the heart, 
the soul would deaden, freeze, and expire in an 
eternal death. Without it no spiritual, good 
thing can exist. You might as well expect to 
raise a crop without the influence of the sun 
and rain, as to make a real pious Christian 
without implanting love to God in his heart. 
You might as easily cause your gardens to pro- 
duce clusters of choice fruit from a snow-storm 
or a shower of hail-stones, as to make the soul 
'of man truly pious by a multitude of cold, theo- 
logical creeds and catechisms of human inven- 
tion, without the holy, warm influence of love 
to God in the heart. 

From what we have remarked, and from an 
examination of the whole of the Scriptures, we 
are led to conclude, that though James said 
that ''to visit the fatherless and widows in 
their affliction, and to keep one^s self unspotted 
from the world, is pure religion before God the 
Father," yet he could not have meant that 
these are the whole of religion. But we may 
safely say, that, according to the Word of God, 
this pure religion, and the uihole of it, is this: to 
have a holy reverence for God, to acknowledge 
him as our Creator, the Father of our spirits, 



218 PURE RELIGION. 

the Giver of all things we possess or enjoy, 
our Preserver, our only hope and reliance, our 
constant Benefactor and almighty Friend — ^to 
love him with all our hearts, souls, and minds 
— to love his Son and to receive him, in faith, 
•Jis our Mediator and Saviour — to love our 
neighbors as ourselves, and to have love and 
good will towards all mankind — to visit the fa- 
therless and widows in their afflictions, and to 
keep ourselves unspotted from the world — ^to 
avoid all prevailing sins and unrighteousness 
— to relieve the distresses and supply the 
wants of all, and to do good to all, as much as 
in our power — to practice all the moral virtues, 
and fulfill all moral duties, to cease to do evil 
and learn to do well — to repent, reform, and be 
reconciled to God, and to do works meet for 
repentance — to live holy and righteous lives, 
and in ail things to imitate our blessed Lord, 
who went about doing good. Such is a sum- 
mary of the lohole of ^'pure religion, aijd unde- 
filod before God the Father." 

But from this summary we might detail an 
almost infinite variety of virtues, obligations, 
arid duties. But I need not describe them. 
Your own consciences, your own hearts will 
bring them into view, will make them the im- 



PURE RELIGION. 219 

portant subjects of your devout and useful con- 
templation and delight, sources of improve- 
ment to your own minds, hearts, and lives, and 
the surest means of increasing and sweetening 
all the joys of this life, and of brightening the 
hopes and fond expectations of a future and 
more glorious state of being. 

True religion was designed to promote the 
happiness of this world, as well as to secure 
that of the next. Paul says, " It is profitable 
nnto a^' lung's, having the promise of the life 
that nov/ is, and of that which is to come." 
"This is a faithful saying," said he, ''and wor- 
thy of all acceptation." 

I have thought that if pure religion had al- 
ways been represented and clearly displayed 
in its true light, in all its pure simplicity, in 
all its perfect love and goodness, in all its beau- 
ty, in all its loveliness, in all its divinity, in all 
its glory — it would have been, it must have 
been cordially, universally received and em- 
braced by all intelligent beings upon earth. 
I have often thought that many false and 
counterfeit representations of it — many cold, 
revolting doctrines — many strange, inconsist- 
ent notions and dogmas respecting it, have pre- 
vented its general reception, and checked its 



220 PURE RELIGION. 

progress more than all its open, avowed ene- 
mies — much more than all the writings of 
infidels. 

Pure religion is something designed to be 
'felt in the heart, and acted and practiced in the 
life. Practical religion was the ^'eligion which 
Jesus Christ taught. He never taught anything 
that was impracticable. He never taught any- 
thing that was inconsistent or incredible. He 
never commanded men to do what God had 
not given them power to do. His requirements 
were reasonable. '' His yoke was easy, and 
his burden was light." His religion was to 
act, to practice — not to make form-al profes- 
sions, but to do the will of his Father, ^\^ho 
sent him. 

Now it may be asked, Where shall we find 
those who truly act and practice religion ? — 
who are they ? I will describe some of them. 

Those fathers who, from a full conviction of 
the being and all the perfect attributes of God, 
of his wisdom displayed in all his works, his 
justice in all his ways, his righteousness in all 
his dealings, his goodness in all his providence, 
his holiness in all his laws and commands ; 
and who, being suitably impressed with a just 
sense of their own dependence, their own ac- 



PURE RELIGION. 221 

Gountability, their own obligations and duties, 
direct their conduct in harmony with the eter- 
nal principles of rectitude and benevolence, 
exhibiting evidence of religious guidance in 
their various duties and occupations of life ; 
who, in the management of their household 
and all their affairs, exercise wisdom and jus- 
tice, with kindness and love ; who do not 
sacrifice the good and comfort of their children 
by rigorous, arbitrary authority, nor spoil 
them by too fond indulgence, but, according 
^ to their best means, generously and freely 
provide for their temporal comfort and for 
their spiritual well-being ; who, by wise coun- 
sel, by just reproof, by seasonable correction, 
by due caution, by encouragements, and es- 
pecially by their good examples, inspire them 
with true principles of right and justice, of 
honor, and everything that is virtuous and 
praiseworthy ; and train them up in the way 
in which they should go, to become useful, 
respectable, prosperous and happy. Such 
fathers, no matter what their creeds or con- 
fessions of faith may be, or to what sect or 
denomination of Christians they belong, they 
practice religion. 

Again: those husbands who, feeling them- 
19 



222 PURE RELIGION. 

selves under obligations to obey the laws of 
God and nature, are affectionate, kind, and 
faithful to the companions of their bosoms, lov- 
ing them as themselves, always willing to gra- 
tify them in all their reasonable desires, ever 
placing all due confidence in them, encouraging 
hem to those virtuous and generous deeds 
that are most lovely in the female sex, con- 
stantly striving to increase their mutual love 
and happiness, and to promote the good of their 
families and all mankind — such good husbands 
practice religion. 

Again: those wives who, properly regarding 
God's benevolent design in the creation of wo- 
man, and the duty he enjoined, are truly help- 
meets, always faithful and affectionate, and 
duly respectful to their husbands, regarding 
their interest, honor, prosperity, and happiness, 
*' looking well to the ways of their household, 
and not eating the bread of idleness;" whose 
words and deeds are always commendable and 
praiseworthy — who open their mouths with wis- 
dom, and in their tongues is the law of kind- 
ness — *'who stretch forth their hands to the 
poor, yea, who reach forth their hands to the 
needy '' — who are ever so constant and faithful, 
that the hearts of their husbands do safely 



PURE RELIGION. 223 

trust in them — such wives will bring up their 
children in the way they should go, teach them 
habits of industry, and lead them in the paths 
of virtue and peace; and it is such wives who 
practice religion. And they should be praised. 

Again: we must not omit to notice mothers. 
Mothers are the most important beings in the 
world. They can produce more good (or cause 
more evil) than all the rest of mankind. Their 
influence, from their situation, is almost un- 
bounded, especially over their own children and 
household. And we will charitably believe that 
most of them are rightly disposed, and will be 
faithful in their station. And those mothers 
who, to the extent of their powers and influ- 
ence, bring up their children and household in 
the way of peace and righteousness, enlighten- 
ing their minds with useful knowledge, and 
warming their hearts with love to God and 
men, teaching and persuading them to he good 
and to do good to all, to be kind and charitable, 
and to strive to enlarge the sum of human hap- 
piness — such mothers practice religion ; and 
''their children and their children's children 
will rise up and call them blessed." 

Again : those children w^io love the Lord 
their God with all their hearts, honor their pa- 



224: PURE KELIGION. 

rents, obey all their reasonable commands, at- 
tend to their useful instructions, and follow 
their good examples — who live together in love 
and harmony, and endeavor to promote the hap- 
piness and prosperity of all — such good child- 
ren practice religion; and we may trust that 
they will be ''made pillars in the temple of 
their God, and go no more out." 

Again: those brothers and sisters who, be- 
ing influenced by the divine law of love and 
the pure doctrines of Christ, exclude from the 
family circle all jealousies, discord, and conten- 
tion, and live together in perfect quietness, and 
in constant interchange of mutual friendship, 
tenderness, and love, having no strife among 
themselves, but to see which can do the most 
good and cause the most happiness — such kind 
brothers and sisters, whatever may be their 
station in life or rank in society, they practice 
religion. 

Again: to look a little higher. All civil offi- 
cers, presidents, governors, judges, and legis- 
lators of our country, who seek the approbation 
of their God and their own consciences, and 
not the applause and support of a political par- 
ty — who always act for the good and prosperi- 
ty of the whole country, and not to promote 



PURE RELIGION. 225 

their own interest or personal ambition, or to 
please and gratify a party that supports and 
flatters them — who always promote to offices 
of trust, the best men, men of experience, in- 
tegrity, talents, and known lovers of their God 
and their country, and never such as are un- 
tried, inexperienced, or unworthy, only because 
they may be sycophantic adherents of the ap- 
pointing power; and who, being above political 
corruption and intrigue, uniformly act upon 
principle, and solely for the public good — such 
men, such honest statesmen, practice religion, 
and should be considered the faithful servants 
of their God and their country. 

Once more. That religious society whose 
members all love the Lord their God with all 
their hearts, and their neighbors as themselves 
— who are always in love and harmony w4th 
each other, and full of love and charity with 
all men — who gratefully receive their blessed 
Saviour in faith and love, obey his injunctions, 
promote the spreading of his Gospel in its puri- 
ty, and in all things endeavor to follow his 
bright example — that society, whatever may be 
its creed or confession of faith upon paper, or 
to whatever sect or denomination it may belong, 
does indeed practice religion. And though 
19* 



226 PURE RELIGION. 

they may be denounced and despised by their 
uncharitable, unchristian brethren, and called 
heretics, yet they may have a confident hope 
and trust that their Lord and Judge will, at 
last, say to them, "Come, ye blessed of my 
Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you 
from the foundation of the world 1'' 



BRIEF LECTURE 

ON THE 

SUPPOSED TWO NATURES IN CHRIST. 



What must be considered the real natures in 
or of Christ, or of all other persons or beings ? 
It must be acknowledged that all the powers, 
capacities, and everything that in any way be- 
longs to any person or being, make and consti- 
tute his one whole nature — make him what he 
is. He cannot have two or more natures, for 
that would make him two or more persons or 
beings, twice himself, which cannot be accord- 
ing to the laws of nature. The powers and 
capacities of man, his power of motion, of 
thought, of speech, of hearing, of seeing, and 
all his powers, everything that pertains to 
him, make and constitute his one only estab- 
lished nature — he cannot have two natures, 
for that would make him two men in one man, 
which would not be a proper man, but a mon- 
ster. And if we take a view of our blessed 



228 THE SUPPOSED TWO NATURES 

Saviour, we shall find that all his power, his 
offices, and everything v>rhich his Father has 
given him, constitute his one, only, pure, per- 
fect nature. He cannot have two distinct na- 
tures — twice everything that God his Father 
has given him; for that would make him two 
persons, two Christs, two mediators between 
God and men, and a double Saviour of the 
world, which would be wholly incredible, un- 
scriptural, and irrational. 

And if we could comprehend all the attributes, 
nature and mode of existence of the almighty 
God, we should find that his underived almighty 
power, wisdom, goodness, and all his great and 
glorious attributes, constitute his one only holy, 
perfect nature. He cannot have two such na- 
tures; for that would make him two almighty, 
supreme Gods, which is an absolute impossi- 
bility. 

We must conclude, therefore, that no person 
or being in the universe can have two distinct, 
different natures. The one only nature of every 
person comprehends all that he is. 

Moreover, in a moral and religious view, 
there is in this hypothesis a great evil and in- 
consistency; for it annihilates the mediation of 
Christ between God and men, because a media- 



IN CHRIST. 229 

tor must be one between the parties, disinte- 
rested, and not one of either party. But if 
Christ, according to this hypothesis, is both 
God and man, then he is, as God, one of the 
parties, and as man the other; and cannot come 
in as a disinterested mediator between them. 

If two nations have a quarrel, or are at war 
with each other, a mediator may be appointed 
to mediate between them, to bring about a re- 
conciliation, to make them at peace, and to es- 
tablish friendship. But one of those nations 
could not be a mediator betw^een them, and it 
would be ridiculous to suppose that both 
might be such mediator. 

So, if men are contending or fighting against 
God and violating his laws and commands, 
and God is angry with them, it would seem 
that a mediator might be appointed to bring 
about reconciliation, obedience, peace, and sat- 
isfaction. But Christ, being (according to this 
hypothesis) both God and man, could not be 
the mediator; because he is one of the parties 
and interested — yea, because he is both of the 
parties, and cannot be a go-between them, to 
bring about a reconciliation or to effect any 
good purpose. 

Another fatal objection to this hypothesis, is 



230 THE SUPPOSED TWO NATURES 

that it annihilates the precious atonement of 
Christ; for Christ's death is considered the chief 
of the atonement. But if Christ was God, the 
ever-living God, then he could not and did not 
die: the account of his death must be a mere 
fiction; and so no atonement was or could be 
made, if this hypothesis is true. 

And if Christ died only as man, as some say, 
then there was no sufficient, divine atonement — 
nothing but a human sacrifice, which would 
not satisfy divine justice: so they must make 
God himself die to satisfy his own justice. 
Therefore we cannot believe in this hypothesis. 
I have thought it strange — yea, "passing 
strange," that such an unscriptural, irration- 
al, impossible-to-be-true doctrine, should ever 
have been invented and adopted by any ration- 
al professed Christians. But I would not un* 
kindly condemn its advocates, but regard them 
with charity and Christian afiection. 

But if we consider Christ as the Bible re- 
presents him to be — the only beloved Son of 
God, and another and distinct person from his 
Father, having but one perfect nature — that he, 
for awhile, tabernacled in humanity — then he 
was a proper go-between God and man, and a 
sufficient mediator, and able, by God's appoints 
ment, to make atonement for sinners. 



IN CHRIST. 231 

And that all professed Christians might 
adopt and view this mediation and this atone- 
ment as of infinite importance ; and that they 
would give all the praise and all the glory to 
God, with ineffable love to his Son, for their 
wonderful, gracious works to the sinful child- 
ren of men, for their salvation and everlasting 
good and happiness in heaven hereafter 1 



GODLINESS WITH CONTENTMENT 
IS GREAT GAIN. 



** Godliness with contentment is great gain/' — 1 Tim, vi. 6 

The Apostle says, that ^' Godliness with con- 
tentment is great gain." Now, if I was to 
criticise upon this expression, I should say 
that godliness without contentment cannot 
exist. Piety, without resignation to the holy 
will and divine allotments of Providence, can- 
not live in the soul. Godliness and content- 
ment, piety and resignation, are mutual de- 
pendents, inseparable companions, divine as- 
sociates. 

But my design at this time is to consider 
the great virtue and loveliness of contentment 
or resignation — its power and influence over 
the hearts and lives of men. Contentment 
is a virtue to be acquired in the school of 
Christ — to be learned by the teachings of re- 



GODLINESS WITH CONTENTMENT, &C. 233 

ligion, and the dictates of reason and common 
sense. But it is said to be a hard lesson for 
men to learn in this life, because the world is 
so full of evil, of troubles, of disappointments, 
of vexations, of crosses and losses, of envy, 
malice, hatred, of poverty, distress, hardships, 
dangers, trials, afSictions, and almost innu- 
merable evils, v^hich are temptations to lead 
the mind to discontent, to dissatisfaction, and 
to complaining' against the holy providence of 
God. But none of these evils induced Paul to 
be discontented, although he endured many of 
them. He said, '^ In labors he was abundant, 
in stripes above measure, in prison frequent — 
of the Jews, five times received he forty 
stripes, save one ; thrice was he beaten with 
rods, once stoned, thrice suffered shipwreck, a 
night and a day had been in the deep ; in 
journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils 
of robbers, in perils by his own countrymen, 
in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, 
in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, 
in perils among false brethren ; in weariness 
and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger 
and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and na- 
kedness." Yet in all these trials and suffer- 
ings he learned contentment, and was always 
20 



i§34 GODLINESS WITH CONTENTMENT 

ready to say, *^ I have learned, in whatsoever 
state I am, therewith to be content ;" know- 
ing that all things would work together for 
good, if he loved God and kept his command- 
ments. And we have a brighter and more 
perfect example of contentment and resigna- 
tion in our blessed Saviour, who was poor, 
who '4iad not where to lay his head,^' who 
was treated with more cruelty, abuse, re- 
proach and indignity, than any other person 
that ever was on earth ; yet he opened not his 
mouth — ^lie complained not — he was contented 
and resigned to do and to suffer, according to 
the will of his Father in heaven. And do we 
need more perfect patterns, that we may learn 
contentment ? and shall we not attempt to 
imitate such bright examples ? But w^e will, 
in a more plain, simple and obvious manner, 
consider the reasonableness and the important 
duty of learning and practicing contentment 
and resignation. 

We believe that our Creator, the Director 
of all the affairs of the universe, is a sove- 
reign, a wise, a benevolent, merciful being ; 
always desirous of the happiness of his crea- 
tures ; not willing that any should perish or 
suffer, but that all should live and be happy ; 



IS GREAT GAIN. 235 

therefore, both nature and religion teach that 
his creatures should always be contented and 
resigned, in whatever state or condition he 
may be pleased to place them ; whether it 
may seem to them for good or for evil (God 
only knowing what will be best for them, and 
resignation being their duty.) 

Again : it w^ill appear reasonable that we 
should be contented, in whatsoever state we 
are, if we consider that we are the creatures 
of God^s will and pleasure, as well as of his 
powder and goodness. He might have seen fit 
ta have created us a lower order of beings, to 
have made us irrational animals, or even a 
part of the inanimate creation ; but it was his 
good will and pleasure to create us intelligent 
beings. And should we not learn to be grate- 
fully, joyfully and perfectly contented, when 
we consider what exalted rank he has given 
us in the scale of being — what great and won- 
derful powers and capacities for private, do- 
mestic and social joys, and for temporal and 
everlasting happiness, he has bestowed upon 
us ? — though he may occasionally mix some 
sorrows with our joys, some grief with our 
happiness, some pains with our pleasures, or 
some disappointments with our hopes, all in- 



286 GODLINESS WITH CONTENTMENT 

tended, however, to work together for our 
good. And must we not rest contented and 
satisfied that all states and conditions of life 
(except such as are brought about by our own 
folly or wickedness) are determined and fixed 
by the will and pleasure of the Almighty; and 
that we have not power, against that will and 
pleasure, to alter them or make them better? 
Besides, had we the power to change them, are 
we sure that we could do better for ourselves 
than the all-wise, benevolent God has done for 
us, or will do for us in his own due time ? And 
must not these considerations lead us to con- 
tentment and resignation ? All men are liable 
to trials and afflictions of some kind, in some 
measure. Evil and good, calamities and bless- 
ings, sorrows and joys, are often mixed together, 
and attendant upon all. Some are rich, some 
are poor; some prosperous, some unfortunate; 
some blessed with friends and companions, some 
deprived of them; some have health of body 
and mind, some are weak and diseased; some 
in high stations of life, and some in low; to all 
which we are all liable; but will our discon- 
tent or murmuring alter any of them for the 
better, or do us any good ? ISTo. Contentment 
and resignation are the best remedies for evils, 
the sure balm for all afflictions. 



IS GREAT GAIN. 23^ 

Again: we may learn to be contented in the 
state and condition we are placed, if we look 
around and see how many there are in a like 
or worse condition than ourselves, who are con- 
tented and happy — and why may not we copy 
their good example, and be so likewise? If 
they are contented in their w^orse condition, 
shall not we be resigned in our better condition ? 

Again : we may learn contentment, by reflect- 
ing that many, apparently in a much better 
condition as to the necessaries, comforts, and 
enjoyments of life than we are, yet are not 
happy and contented. Have the poor any right 
to calculate, that if they were only rich they 
should certainly be happy and contented ? Are 
those who have most wealth, the best content- 
ed ? I think not. Their wants, their troubles, 
and discontents, increase faster than their 
wealth. Tliey gain no contentment, but they 
are continually anxious to gain more riches. 
They cannot be satisfied with what they now 
possess, however large the possession may be; 
but they rely entirely upon what they may yet 
acquire, to make them contented. 

Again: we may learn contentment, even in 
a state of the most severe trials, troubles, 
afflictions, and disappointments, if we reflect 



238 GODLINESS WITH CONTENTMENT 

upon the many, innumerably mercies and bless- 
ings bestowed upon us, to move our hearts to 
gratitude and praise; and if we reflect how 
much worse our condition might be than it 
now is — ^how many would consider it a desirable 
and happy state — if we consider how many of 
the necessaries and comforts of life are still 
continued to us. And if we have food and rai- 
ment, should we not therewith be content, 
though we are deprived of the luxuries of 
life? 

But here let me incidentally say, that though 
contentment is at all times a duty, yet it is also 
a duty to improve all the talents God has given 
us ; to use all the means granted us for improv- 
ing and bettering our state and condition in 
life, and to pray constantly for divine aid and 
direction. And although riches are not to be 
considered of the highest value, yet it is our 
duty to use all lawful, honest, laudable means 
to acquire wealth, that we may use it to the 
praise of God, the Giver, to our own comfort 
and convenience, and the benefit of our fellow- 
creatures; thereby with gratitude receiving 
good, and doing good. But to return: — 

Again: we may learn to be content, in what- 
soever state we are, if we reflect that our earth- 



IS GREAT GAIN. 239 

ly state is short, and that the troubles, anxie- 
ties, pains, and disappointments we here en- 
dure may be for our good — may improve our 
minds, draw our hearts to God, induce us to 
put our chief trust in him, to look to him at all 
times for aid and direction, and to brighten our 
iiopes of future bliss. In a little time we shall 
be removed from this uncertain, transitory, 
mortal state; and if we are found faithful to 
our God and our own souls, we may expect to 
be admitted into an eternal state of perfect 
contentment, life and joy. 

Again: we shall be contented, if we consider 
that God is always present, nigh, ready, and 
willing to help us — if we trust in him, at all 
times, in all situations and circumstances. 
Our earthly friends may forget, neglect, for- 
sake, or betray us ; but the Lord is faithful, and 
will not forsake them that fear him, but will 
supply all their wants — ^' will forgive all their 
iniquities, heal all their diseases — will redeem 
their lives from destruction, crown them with 
loving kindness and tender mercies — will satis- 
fy their mouths with good things, and execute 
•righteousness and judgment for all that are 
oppressed." 

Again: we may feel contented, if we consider 



240 GODLINESS WITH CONTENTMENT 

that our unfavorable positions in life need not 
check the improvement of our minds or the 
piety of our hearts ; but that we may still wor- 
ship our God, and love our neighbors, in every 
state and condition of life. 

But some may say, it is easy to preach con- 
tentment; but to practice it, ^' hie lahor^ hoc o;pii$ 
tstj^ this is labor indeed — this is a hard work. 
Some think their circumstances will not admit 
of contentment. My case, says one, is truly 
vexatious, and one that admits not of content- 
ment. I was once rich — possessed of large 
estates — -surrounded with all the comforts, en- 
joyments and luxuries of life; but by the frauds 
of enemies, the deception of pretended friends, 
and other ill winds, I have lost and been robbed 
of all, of everything I possessed, and am in 
abject poverty — and how can I be patient and 
contented ? To such an one I would say, Con- 
sider patient, pious Job, who was similarly 
situated, though worse, for he w^as personally, 
sorely afflicted; yet he could say with perfect 
resignation, '^ The Lord gave, and the Lord 
hath taken away; blessed be his holy name !^^ 
Consider also the blessed Saviour, *'who had 
not where to lay his head." Besides, let me 
ask you, what have you lost? Was not the 



IS GREAT GAIN. 241 

whole comparatively nothing, and vanity ? was 
there any intrinsic virtue or value in it ? could 
it save one soul from death ? could it fill one 
heart with love to God ? could it make atone- 
ment for one sin, waft one soul to heaven, or 
furnish any good thing that will last for ever ? 
But if your troubles have had a salutary effect 
upon your mind and heart — if you have learnt 
to put your trust in God and not in men — if 
you are really poor, without repining, are not 
your losses more than made up ? are you not 
a gainer ? are you not now receiving the choice 
blessing of Jesus, and his rich promise of an 
interest in the kingdom of heaven? for he said, 
'' Blessed are the poor who repine not, for the 
kingdom of heaven is theirs.'^ And is not this 
worth more than all you have lost ? Were you 
possessed of the whole w^orld, had you a legal 
title to the whole, would you not quit-claim it 
all for an everlasting inheritance in the king- 
dom of heaven? And this is yours, if you 
love God and keep his commandments. Cease, 
then, your murmurings, and be content. 

The orphans come, and say, Our case is a 
hard one. Our kind parents have been taken 
from us — we are left destitute, without a sup- 
porter, protector, and guide of our youth — how 
21 



242 GODLINESS WITH CONTENTMENT 

can we feel resigned and contented ? By con- 
sidering that you have an almighty, all-bene- 
volent Parent in heaven, who is able, ready, 
and willing to do for you more than any earth- 
ly parent could do — who hath declared himself 
to be the Father of the fatherless. Put your 
trust in him, and be contented — be happy. 

The bereaved mother says. My sorrows are 
greater than I can bear with patience. I have 
been bereaved of my two darling children — one 
three years old, the other almost two: they 
were the delight of my eyes, the joy of my 
heart — sweet cherubs! my comfort, my all! 
But they are not; and I, whither shall I go? 
Go to God, dear mother, who can give you 
richer blessings than he has taken from you. 
Consider that your children were his — that he 
only lent them to you — that he had a right to 
take them home whenever he pleased, and that 
he took them for their good, for 'their happi- 
ness. Had they lived, they might have been 
liable to great sufferings, to be led away and 
enticed by the vanities, deceitfulness, and cor- 
ruptions of the world — might have ruined their 
own souls, and brought deeper distress and 
anguish upon their fond mother. Look, also, 
upon the blessed Saviour, who, when on earth, 



IS GREAT GAIN. 243 

took little children into his arms and blessed 
them; and said, ^^ Of such is the kingdom of 
heaven!" With an eye of faith, see your dear 
children embraced in the arms of his love, re- 
ceiving his divine blessing, which is life ever- 
more; and see them also under the immediate 
protection and kind care of that Almighty Pa- 
rent who '4s love!'' Meditate upon these 
things, and be reconciled, be contented, be 
happy! 

Now hear the sighs of the disconsolate 
widow. J^o sorrows like my sorrows — no griefs 
like mine! How can I feel quiet and content- 
ed? I had a kind, an affectionate, an indulgent, 
faithful husband; he was my friend, my sup- 
porter, my guide, my all: but he is taken from 
me; I am left alone, in solitude, and tears of 
anguish; and how can I remain contented and 
serene ? I will tell you how you may learn 
contentment. By considering that it was for 
your good, as well as for his happiness, that 
your husband was removed before you — to teach 
you that you should not place your supreme 
affections on any mortal man, though to you 
the best, most beloved and noble, but upon the 
ever-living God, who is the Giver of every 
good gift — who is the almighty Friend of all 



244 GODLINESS WITH CONTENTMENT 

men — who loves you, and will do you more 
good than any earthly husband could — who is 
always ready and willing to give good things 
to those who ask him. And you will learn to 
be content, when you consider that this Friend 
has declared himself to be ''the widow's God 
and Judge;" and that his Son, the blessed Sa- 
viour, will be your spiritual husband. If, then, 
you loved your husband, murmur not that he 
is taken to happiness and glory before you; but 
rather rejoice with joy unspeakable, in the glo- 
rious hope that ere long you may be called to 
meet him, and to unite with him, and the innu- 
merable hosts of heaven, in rapturous songs of 
praise and thanksgiving to ''Him who sitteth 
^n the throne, and to the Lamb, for ever and 
ever!" 

But we must not forget the bereaved hus- 
band, who is exclaiming, in the agony of afflic- 
tion, "The hand of God hath touched me; lover 
and friend hath he put far from me, and mine 
acquaintance into darkness!'' Yes, I had a be- 
loved, an amiable, a virtuous, a faithful com- 
panion of my bosom. She was m^^ comfort in 
afiiiction, ray best physician in sickness — in 
health, the enlivener of my joys, the sweetener 
of my pleasures, the faithful aid and assistant 



15 GREAT GAiy. 245 

in all my affairs, and the brightener of all my 
hopes — she was everything to me that heart 
could wish; but she is removed far from me, 
" into darkness." And I — w^here can I go for 
consolation, for joy, or even for contentment? 
And now, my brother, as you have no earthly, 
special object of love and attachment, if you will 
love the Lord your God with all your heart, 
and put your trust in him, and love your neigh- 
bors as yourself, and do good to all, you may 
learn to be contented and happy — your losses 
on earth will be gains in heaven. 

Finally, brethren, we may all learn content- 
ment, by considering that we are, directly or 
indirectly, entirely dependent upon our heaven- 
ly Father for all we possess, enjoy, or hope 
for — that we have of ourselves no right to 
claim of him anything- more than, or different 
from what he is pleased to give us — that it is 
our natural and required duty to be content 
with the allotments of his holy and wise provi- 
dence ; and if we should be tempted to c-m- 
plain or murmur about our state and cofvi on 
in life, we ought constantly to hear the voice 
of the Lord, saying to us, "Be still, and know 
that I am God '^ — a gracious and merciful Qod, 
who careth for you. 

21* 



ESPECIAL AND USEFUL DUTIES 
OF THE RICH. 



" Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be 
not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in 
the living God. who giveth us all things to enjoy ; that 
they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready 
to distribute, willing to communicate." Tim. vi. 
17, 18. 

All men have some duties to perform — some 
more and some less. The rich, especially, have 
some duties to perform which are not required 
of the poor. But who are rich in this world, 
in worldly goods ? Not only those who are 
possessed of very large, immense property — 
who are millionarians, or nearly so, but all 
who possess, or have the means of acquiring, 
much more than is necessary for their own com- 
fortable support and convenience. To all such 
the charge of the apostle is applicable. 

It will not be modest or commendable in mo 
to undertake to dictate to the rich what is their 
duty; but I will refer them to the directions 
and instructions of the inspired Apostle Paul, 



ESPECIAL DUTIES OF THE RICH. 24*4 

and to the Word of God, and the dictates of all 
nature and reason. Paul has substantially set 
forth all the duties of the rich; but we may 
comment a little upon him. He directed Timo- 
thy to '' charge them that are rich/' as in our 
text, ^' that they be not high-minded " — that they 
be not haughty, proud, boasting of their wealth, 
as if they had acquired it entirely by their own 
skill and power, without the aid or blessing of 
God — and that they should not trust in the un- 
certain riches of this world, which are, at best, 
evanescent, and liable to be taken from them 
by thieves, robbers, and various evil-disposed 
persons and causes; or to be destroyed by 
tornadoes, fires, earthquakes, and other natural, 
inevitable causes of destruction and annihila- 
tion. But they were to trust in the living God, 
in the divine riches, w^hich God alone can be- 
stow and perpetuate, to be richly enjoyed. 

Moreover, there is something for the rich to 
do. They are charged to do good — to be rich 
in good works — to clothe the naked, feed the 
hungry — to supply, as much as they can, the 
suffering wants of all — to '' help those that have 
none to help them " — to visit the fatherless and 
widows in their affliction, and especially to 
cause the Gospel to be preached to the poor, 
and to be spread throughout the world. 



248 ESPECIAL DUTIES 

These are some of the duties that are required 
of the rich; and they ma^^ fully learn all their 
duties by listening to the teaching of the ^vhole 
Word of God, and the dictates of nature, rea- 
son and common sense. 

And those rich persons who faithfully per- 
form their whole duty are the life of the in- 
habited world — they are one of the best of God^s 
blessings upon earth; and they should be re- 
spected, esteemed and loved, as the true friends 
of men and the faithful servants of God. 

But as to those very rich persons who do not 
use their superabundant property agreeably to 
their required duty — who, instead of supplying 
the wants of the poor and needy, neglect and 
oppress them — who, instead of doing good, do 
much injury in the world — who, instead of caus- 
ing the Gospel to be preached to the poor and 
others, reject it and treat it with contempt — 
who do not use any of their riches for the bene- 
fit and comfort of their fellow-men or for the 
glory of God, but hoard it up, or appropriate 
it to ambitious, miserly purposes, merely to 
gratify their ambition, or their own craving, 
unholy dispositions, without distributing for 
any good works — if there be any such rich per- 
sons, (and I hope there can be but very few, if 



OF THE RICH. 24t 

any, ) towards them I can have no very kind 
feelings — I can hardly "God-speed them;" and 
if they were in trouble, or some "torments," 1 
should hesitate about sending a Lazarus to 
comfort or warn them, but would only pray 
them to repent and reform, and to bring forth 
works meet for repentance and reformation 

I have not the wisdom of Solomon, nor of r 
great many other men; but I think I have 
enough to say, that if all the intelligent crea- 
tures of God upon the earth performed all their 
duties faithfully, there would be no necessity 
for men to die to obtain heaven, for they might 
have it here, with God^s blessing. But we 
must be assured that the omniscient, all-wise 
God has planned and ordered all things for the 
best, and that his creatures should fully, thank- 
fully acquiesce in his holy will and pleasure. 



CHRIST'S NEW COMMANDMENT. 



^' A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one 
another ; as I have loved you, that ye also love one 
another. By this shall all men know that ye are 
my disciples, if ye have love one to another." — John., 
xiii. 34. 

Well did Christ call this commandment truly 
a new commandment ; for before that time 
there was no such command fully given; there 
was no such love as Christ^s love known or 
thought of. And how can we know what and 
how great this love was ? We may learn it 
from the fact, that he willingly left his seat 
at the right hand of God on the throne, and, 
for a time, all the joys and glories of heaven ; 
and, in obedience to his Father's holy will, 
came down to this world, here to teach, and 
instruct, and to bless sinful, offending men ; 
here to be abused, despised, and to suffer and 
die on the cross, to procure the salvation and 
everlasting life of sinners ! 0, love divine ! 
all other love, except the love of God, com- 
pared with this, is cold and worthless. 



chbist's new commandment. 251 

Such was this amazing', ineffable love, that 
all Christians of all sects or denominations 
must be convinced, that this commandment of 
love one to another, as Christ had loved them, 
and which was first given to the disciples, is 
of infinite importance, and should be received 
and obeyed by all men in every age. It should 
be faithfully and fully kept by all, especially 
by all denominations of professed Christians, 
for it is applicable and was intended to be 
binding upon them all. All professed Chris- 
tians of all or different denominations, are as 
truly required to love one another, as they 
are to love those of their own denomination, 
though the love may be in a different or less 
degree. 

And what will all those who obey this com- 
mand of Christ, receive ? They will receive 
the approbation of the perfect Lawgiver ; and 
they will also receive full, infallible proof to 
all men, that they are the true disciples of 
Christ. For Christ has said, ^'By this shall 
all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye 
have love one to another." And is not this of 
infinite importance to you, to possess this evi- 
dence, which will be satisfactorily received in 
the highest court in the universe, by the 



262 Christ's new commandment. 

greatest, most perfect judge that ever sat on 
any judgment-seat ? 

Besides, if you seek only temporal good, 
blessings and happiness, a general obedience 
by all men to this commandment will produce 
not only a little — a handfull — but a world-full 
of joy and happiness ! There would be no 
contention, no fighting, no theft, no robbery, 
no iniquity, no evil of any kind; but every- 
thing in the world would be good, would be 
peaceful, would be satisfactory, would be de- 
lightful ! 

Love one to another, or brotherly love, is 
the best bond of society in this world, and it 
leads to a higher, an infinite love, the supreme 
love of God and of Christ ; for if '' one loves 
not his brother whom he has seen and enjoyed, 
how can he love God, whom he has not seen, 
and whose whole goodness is in some measure 
unsearchable, and past finding out." 



TOIE END. 



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